Toor Dal (Pigeon Pea) with Mint

Toor Dal is a beige lentil with a yellow interior. This is the most important pulse in the state of Gujarat (India). They are used for curries as well as for stuffings. Toor Dal is a high source of proteins.

As mentioned in my earlier post, dal is an all time favourite in my household and met with much enthusiasm in my household. It disappears as soon as its presented at the dinning table.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Toor dal
• 2 medium onion cut into small cubes
• 1 tomato cut into cubes
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 2 green chillies slightly slit at the front
• 3 cups water
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 3/4 tsp mustard seed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seed
• One fist of freshly cut coriander leaves (optional)
• One fist of curry leaves
• One fist of mint leaves*
• 1/4 tsp of hing (asafoetida)
• 2 red chillies

Direction for cooking:

1) Rinse dal and put it in the pressure cooker. Before you close the lid add onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chillies and water. Now pressure cook till you hear around 3-5 whistles.

2) Once the dal has cooked, keep in on slow fire and on a side burner heat oil in a small pan

3) Once the oil is hot, add mustard seed and once it splutters add cumin seed. After 1/2 a minutes, add red chillies, hing, curry leave, mint leaves and add it to the already cooked dal. Stir all the mixture

The dal is ready for serving. Serve it with plain rice or Saffron Rice. It can also be served with flat breads, nans or roti. If you eat fish, dal goes very well with rice and fried fish.

*Tips:

• You can use fresh or dried mint leaves. I used dried mint.
• If you don’t have pressure cooker, you can use any sauce pan only the cooking time will increase.
• The cooking time varies from pressure cooker to pressure cooker. I need at least 5 whistles in mine for the dal to cook. Also I like my dal to be soft and melted so I tend to wait for around 7-8 whistles. So use your judgement and cook as per your desired texture.