No Konkani meal is complete without dal or rasam. Dal is my favorite side dish since childhood. I still remember, during my school days, asking my mom to prepare dal for lunch with some papad and sandige / fritters. This dal can be served as a soup, or as a side with rice or any flat bread (roti, chapati, naan). There are number of recipes you can prepare using cooked dal. To keep the dal dishes tasty, nutritious and interesting, I often end up using mixture of dals (toor dal, moong dal, chana dal, urad dal, masoor dal and so on) in my recipes. Most of these recipes are simple to prepare and require very few basic ingredients. While you are here, also check out some of my other favorites below and don’t forget to share your variations as I would love to try them.

Mixed Vegetable Dal Garlic Dal Pepper Dal Ginger Dal Dal Khichdi Dal Fry Maa Ki Dal

Preparation time : 20 minutes Serves : 2

Toor dal - ½ cup Vegetable oil - 2 tsp Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 4 Onion chopped - 1 Garlic cloves chopped - 3 Ginger finely chopped - 1 inch Green chilies slit - 3 Big tomato chopped - 1 Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp Asafoetida/ Hing - pinch Lemon juice - 1 tsp Coriander leaves chopped - 5 strands Salt - to taste Step I

In a pressure cooker wash and add toor dal and water, bring it to a nice boil. Close the lid and pressure cook for about 8 minutes or 2 whistles. See that the water is at least half inch above the dal. Once the cooker is cooled down, remove the lid and whisk the cooked dal until it is blended into a smooth paste.

Step II

Meanwhile heat oil in pan. Add cumin seeds when they start to splutter add the curry leaves and saute for few seconds. Add the onion, garlic, green chillies and ginger and saute till onion becomes translucent.

Step III

Add the chopped tomato, salt, turmeric powder, hing to the cooked dal and bring it to nice boil or till the tomatoes become soft. Adjust the water for desired consistency. Add the sauteed ingredients, coriander leaves and mix well. Onion Tomato Dal is now ready. Serve hot and enjoy.

ONION TOMATO DAL - 25ONION TOMATO DAL - 14ONION TOMATO DAL - 79