Here comes my third recipe ‘Dal Shorba’ meaning Dal soup. It is just coincidence that all my earlier recipies (its only 2 till date :P) were dal based. Nevertheless it did not deter me from posting this one, which i (my hubby included) would sum it up as nutritious yet very very tasty soup.

My liking for Dal Shorba dates back to my honeymoon days…ahhhh what wonderful days those were. The word honeymoon makes me to dream :D..well coming to the point, we had been to Maldives for our honeymoon and stayed in a Thai resort which served almost nil Indian food. I being brought up in smaller cities of India (since my Dad worked for a bank he got transferres every 3 yrs) was not exposed to any other global cuisine except for Chinese (Indo-Chinese not the authentic one) and Italian (it was only restricted to pizzas). And because of that i mostly survived on french fries and ice creams. But luckily one day the resort had organised Indian special at the restaurant and Dal Shorba was one of the dishes on the the menu. It was at this place i tasted the soup for the first time and believe me guys when i did put a spoonful of soup in my mouth it just felt so heavenly :). From that day whenever I and my hubby go to a Indian restaurant we compulsorily search for this soup on the menu

Today when i was browsing the net, i stumbled on its recipe and here it goes

The ingredients required are:

Masoor dal/Red lentils - 1 cup

Medium sized onions (finely chopped) - 2 to 3

Medium sized tomatoes (finely chopped)- 2

Cilantro / Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Mint leaves - 1/2 cup

Finely chopped ginger - 3 tbsp

Finely chopped garlic - 3 tbsp

Finely chopped green chillies - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Madras curry powder - 1 tsp

Vegetable oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Take 2 tsp of oil in a large kadai and fry the onion till golden brown on medium heat.

Next put ginger, garlic and green chillies and fry for another 2 mins.

To this add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilly powder and the madras curry powder and fry for 3-4 minutes till the spices nicely blend.

Add 4 cups of water and allow the mixture to boil

Now add the masoor dal (cleaned and washed), cilantro and mint leaves.

Turn the heat to low and allow the soup to simmer for about 20 minutes till the dal turns tender.

After this, grind the soup mixture to a smooth paste and sieve the paste using a fine sieve.

Put salt and add water if required.

Garnish with coriander and finely chopped onions (this tip was given by my hubby).

Serve hot along with papad to munch on

Preparation time: 30 mins

Serves: 4 ppl

This dish is one of my comfort food. Just having this saaru/curry with some rice, pickle and papad, makes me feel on heaven :).

The Ingredients are

Toor daal/Togari bele 1 cup

Medium sized tomato 1 cut into cubes

Green chilly 3 slit length wise

Ginger 1”piece finely chopped

Coriander leaves/Cilantro Few strands finely chopped

Cumin seeds/Jeera 1tsp

Turmeric powder/Arishina 1/4 tsp

Lemon juice 1 tbsp

Water 2 cups

Salt to taste

For seasoning we need

Oil/Ghee 1tbsp

Mustard seeds/Saasive 1tsp

Hing 1pinch

Red chillies 2 Cut into pieces

Method of preparation

The first step in the preparation of Dal Tadka is, to cook Toor Dal.

So take toor dal in a cooker, wash it cleanly and drain the extra water.

Add to this , chopped tomatoes, green chillies, ginger together with cumin seeds and turmeric powder.

Now add enough water (so that all the contents are sufficiently covered in water).

Close the lid and keep the cooker on medium heat (About 5 whistles is enough for dal to cook)

After the last whistle, switch off the gas and allow the cooker to cool.

Now take out the lid, mash the dal to form a smooth paste and transfer the contents into another clean vessel.

Add 2 cups of water to dal paste and allow it to boil on medium heat.

Now add salt , lemon juice and coriander leaves. Allow the dal to simmer for few minutes before taking off the gas.

For the seasoning, take a small wok and put oil/ghee in it. When the oil is sufficiently hot add the mustard seeds.

When the seeds start spluttering, add hing , red chillies and stir for few seconds.

Now take out the wok off the gas and pour the seasoning directly into dal, immediatelt close the vessel with a lid (This helps in preserving the aroma).

Serve hot with rice.

Preparation time: 25 mins

Serves: 4