Tomato Diye Mug er Dal / Bengali Moong Dal with Tomatoes

Dals are such essential condiments....and in my house I make sure that they are not missed...not even for a single day!! We are blessed with such varieties of lentils that it’s a shame if we don’t add them in our daily diet. Besides it’s a great way to eat all the vegetables, rather than cooking them into vegetable curries. So I always resort towards the easy way.

This recipe of moong dal is blessed with a mother lode of tangy tomatoes. Perfect when you prefer to have a lunch with simple dal and rice. You can either go for a simple moong dal which is not roasted or you can dry roast it before cooking. Either way, this dal is terrific.

Dry roast your moong dal.

Add water, salt, turmeric powder and mustard oil cook until done.

Heat the rest of the oil and temper it with bay leaves and cumin seeds.

Add tomatoes and sprinkle salt over them.

Cook the tomatoes until oil separates and then add the ginger paste.

Next add the cooked dal, water - if required (to dilute the consistency) and simmer until the desired consistency is achieved.

With the already approaching summer when all of us are trying to make light foods as much as possible, this Tomato Dal certainly is going to be one of our favourite.

 Tomato Diye Mug er Dal / Bengali Moong Dal with Tomatoes

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

1 cup of moong / mug dal

5-6 ripe medium tomatoes – chopped

1 inch ginger – paste

A handful of fresh coriander leaves – chopped

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

4 tbsp mustard oil

Salt

Method:

Wash the moong dal till clear water runs through. Drain the water and keep aside.

Heat the pressure cooker and dry roast the moong dal on flame for 2-3 minutes or until the moong dal changes its colour into a more brownish tone and you start to get its nutty smell. Do stir continuously as they can burn very easily.

Add 3 cups of water to them. Also add in some salt, 1 tbsp mustard oil and turmeric powder.

Mix everything well and cook the dal on pressure till it blows 4 -5 whistles. After that put off the flame and keep the cooker aside to let the steam escape.

In a kadai heat the rest of the mustard oil and temper it with the bay leaves and cumin seeds.

Sauté for half a minute and then add the chopped tomatoes to it.

Sprinkle some salt over them and mix generously. Then stir and cook the tomatoes till they start to ooze out oil from them.

When the tomatoes are all cooked add the ginger paste to them and cook for another minute or so.

Now pour in the cooked moong / mug dal and water if required (if your cooked dal is very thick in consistency then add water to make it thinner.) into the kadai and give a good stir. Moog dal thickens as it cools down, so always leave your cooked moong dal thinner than expected.

Simmer for 5-7 minutes more or until it reaches your desired consistency.

Taste and adjust the seasonings and then put off the flame.

Sprinkle fresh coriander leaves on top of it and serve hot with potato curry and plain hot rice.