Name: Basic Moong Dal with Three Possible Tarkas
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon ground turmeric; about 2 tablespoons very thin onion half-circle slices; 2 tablespoons ghee; 15–20 fresh curry leaves; 2–3 dried, hot red chillies; ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste; 2 tablespoons ghee, or any vegetable oil; 1–2 slit small fresh, hot green chillies, or bird’s eye chillies (optional); 900 ml/1½ pints water; 210 g/7½ oz hulled and skinned moong dal; ¼–½ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional); 4 tablespoons chopped onion; ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds; ½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds; ¼–1 teaspoon red chilli powder; 75 g/3 oz (1 small) tomato, chopped; 1–2 dried, hot red chillies; ½ teaspoon cumin seeds; generous pinch of ground asafoetida; 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery

By Madhur Jaffrey

Published 2023

About

This is the dal I ate first as an infant and this is the dal that I hope to eat until the end of my days. Of all the dals it is the easiest to digest and so is suitable for the young, the old and everyone in between. Also, in my family we were told that this dal made the soul move upwards towards the Universal Soul. That’s as may be. I do know that I grew up with the smell of this dal and basmati rice cooking away in the kitchen. It meant lunch was almost ready. With the dal and rice we wou