Masoor Dal with Mixed Vegetables/Mixed Vegetables Masoor Dal

Dal, the ultimate comfort food for every Indian. My kids are happy with steaming hot rice and a pot of dal. Every family has its own way of making dal, a small change in the seasoning used or the masala added, makes lot of difference.

I sometimes mix and match dals, use half of masoor dal and moong dal or use toor dal along with this, but the method remains the same. The seasoning and masala changes if i use tuvar dal, will share the recipe here soon.
I use my trusty pressure cooker for making dal. Dump everything together, whistle!!! Then finally do the tadka. A fool-proof method i follow every-time.
But there are times, when i pre-cook dal and refrigerate or have some extra dal stored after making a dish, those times, i use this stove-top method. Since the dal is already cooked, all we have to do is cook the veggies, which takes hardly 10-15 minutes. I always stock, 2 or 3 ziploc of precut mixed veggies in my freezer for lazy days. So, with a bit of planning cooking becomes easy.

Most of us have a 3 or 4 burner gas stove these days, Cooking rice in one, dal in the other, in 30 minutes you can serve a scrumptious meal. When i say this, some of my friends, tease me saying "nothing is difficult for me", but seriously cooking isn't rocket science, just think in your head, and do with your heart!

Ingredients

¾ Cup Masoor Dal
1 cup mixed vegetables (i have used 1 potato, ½ a carrot, handful of cauliflower florets, handful of ashgourd)

1 green Chilli, chopped
1 tomato,chopped

1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
3 tablespoon freshly grated coconut (optional)
½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
Salt to taste

Tempering

1 tablespoon Oil/ghee

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

1 garlic minced (optional)

hing a pinch

Curry leaves a few

Method (Stove-top method)

Wash dal and Pressure cook it with 2 cups of water and a pinch of turmeric for 3 whistles. Let the pressure fall on its own. Remove the dal and set aside until use. Dal can be cooked the night before and refrigerated, to ease cooking the next day morning.
While the dal is cooking, prepare the vegetables. In a large saucepan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, garlic, hing and curry leaves. Next add cumin. After adding cumin, immediately add tomatoes and green chili. Saute the tomatoes for 2 minutes.
Now add all the chopped veggies, saute for a minute. Next add red chili, coriander and turmeric powder. Add ½ cup of water, mix well. Cover and cook for 10-12 minutes for the vegetables to cook.
After the said time, remove cover, add salt, fresh coconut and mix. Now add the cooked dal to this. Add another ½ cup of water, mix well. Let this come to a boil and cook for another 8-10 minutes for the flavors to mingle well.
Check the consistency of dal, if you feel it is thick, add another ¼ cup of water and boil for 2 minutes. Finally add ginger and garnish with coriander leaves and remove from heat.
Serve warm along with rice and a generous drizzle of ghee. I paired it along with capsicum zunka for a scrumptious meal.

Using Pressure cooker

Take dal, vegetables, coconut, together in a Pressure Cooker. Add 3 cups of water to it. Add red chili, turmeric and coriander powder and mix well. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Let the pressure release on its own.
once the pressure releases, open the cooker and check the consistency of the dal, if it is too thick, add 1/ 2 cup of water and mix well. If you feel it is too runny, let it simmer for 10-12 minutes.
Now for the tadka, Heat oil/ghee in a kadai, Splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds, add hing and curry leaves.
Add garlic, ginger and green chilies, let it sizzle, pour the sizzling tadka over the dal.
Remove from stove, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve Hot with Rice or Idly/Dosa/Chapathi