Bhaja Moong dal - Potluck party, cyber style December 28th 2013

   For this month of potluck party, I was paired with Sutapa.  I was too happy because I am an dal or gravy-aholic lady.  In this blogging world, we can see many bakes, many goodies  or many virtual treats, but when it comes to your home-cooking, making gravies or dal for dinner becomes an wondering part of life because breakfast and lunch preparation gets over my morning itself.  And for me, I simply quiz what to cook up, with my refrigerator and provisions shelf wide open  :D  :D   This potluck party, very clearly compensated my thought :P  

Bhaja moong dal, an bengali dal is an rich and exotic dal.  'Bhaja' means 'fry' and so moong dal was fried with ghee before pressure cooking and tempered with spices and coconut.  When I prepared, I can notice a pleasent aroma and taste, unlike other dal preparations.  So, thanks to Sutapa for introducing such an nice dal to us, I enjoyed them thoroughly with roti. 

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients required

To be ground into paste

• 1-inch cut ginger
• 2-3 garlic pods
• 1 tsp finely chopped onions
• 2 tbspn coconut powder
• 1 tbspn finely chopped tomatos
• 1/2 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
• 1 tsp dhanya powder

For temper

• 1 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds/ jeera
• 1 whole red chilly

Other

• 1 tsp ghee
• 3/4 cup moong dal
• Salt, to taste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbspn butter
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

Method

Heat one tsp of ghee in kadaai and stir fry moong dal till they become golden. 

After which pressure cook them with 2 cups of water, mash and keep aside.

Alternatively, in a kadai, heat ghee and temper with cumin seeds and red chilly.

After cumin seeds stop their splutter, add blended masala paste.

Cook them till they become thick, oily masala.  

Now, add cooked dal and mix well.  Allow it to boil.

Add salt, sugar, garam masala and butter, simmer for five minutes.  

Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.  Enjoy with rice/roti

Linking this to potluck party, cyber style