Mix Daal

On a lazy, normal day, I heard a knock at my door. When I answered, there was a bunch of friends, springing a belated birthday surprise on me! Now, who doesn't love surprises? I was overjoyed with this loving gesture. The thought was so touching and beautiful. 

They came armed with cake, gifts and food. We had a lovely time, chatting and lunching together. There was homemade cake, appas, puliyohara, paneer, mix daal, kheer and tandoori roti. Everything was delicious. I took recipes and whenever I make them, fond memories are sure to waft around, along with delightful aromas :)

Thankyou for this recipe, Pooja!

Ingredients:

All whole lentils and beans available at home. For e.g. black gram, chickpeas, black eyed beans, whole masoor, whole moong, split toor, chana, kidney beans, pinto beans, whole dried peas, black urad, dew gram. 

Onions - 2, chopped

Tomatoes - 2, chopped

Garlic - 6-7 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

Green chillies - 2

Kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)- 1 teaspoon, crushed

Oil or ghee - 1 teaspoon

Bayleaf - a couple
Raw mango powder - 1/2 teaspoon (I substitute raw mango powder with dry gooseberry powder or with lemon juice).

Way to Go:

1. Soak lentils overnight. 

2. In a pressure cooker, heat ghee. I use an Instant Pot - which is a programmable electric pressure cooker. 

3. When ghee gets warm, add cumin seeds and chopped garlic. Sauté garlic for 10 seconds. Add onions. When onions turn transparent, add tomatoes, ginger and green chillies. 

4. Add spices like coriander powder, cumin powder, salt, red chilly powder and turmeric. Add bayleaves. 

5. When the mix is well cooked, add lentils. Add water so that it is two inches over and above the lentils. 
6. Cook in the same way as you would cook daal makhni. First a couple of whistles, then let it simmer on low flame for a few more minutes. Or put it on Bean/Chilly mode for 40 minutes  . 
7. Add raw mango powder towards the end. My friend also adds a magic paste made by her Mom. I'll update it when I get to know the ingredients for the same:) Edit : I just posted a recipe for this garam masala paste.

8. The consistency can be as desired. A little loose if you want to eat with rice or just mushy, to be eaten with piping hot chapatis. It's an excellent and filling meal for cold winter days. 

Tips:

1. You can use it as ragda for ragda patties.

2. It can be eaten as a chaat on its own. Add a bit of curd, coriander chutney, tamarind chutney, chopped onions, tomatoes, shredded carrots and garnished with chopped coriander. Yum!!