Name: Sweet-Tart Split Green Lentils with Mustard (Moong Nu Dal)
Yield: Makes 4 cups
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds; 2 teaspoons cumin seeds; 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 1 cup skinned split green lentils (yellow in this form, moong dal), picked over for stones; 2 tablespoons Ghee or canola oil; ½ teaspoon cayenne (ground red pepper); ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems; 1 tablespoon crumbled (or chopped) jaggery or firmly packed dark brown sugar; ¼ teaspoon ground asafetida; 1 large tomato, cored and finely chopped; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

Preparation info

Makes
4 cups

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

My sister Lalitha’s classmate, Smita, a Gujarati, is an amazing cook. She can create vegetarian magic with minimal ingredients to balance sweet, hot, and nutty flavors in one lentil-based mouthful. I sampled this dal at Smita’s kitchen table in Ohio, and its spicy-pungent memory lingered for weeks. Serve it with a basket of pooris and the mango puree (Aamras;).