Dal Panchratan / Pancharatni (Dal Curry with Five Lentil Types)

Dal or lentil curry is my go-to dish when my vegetable tray looks empty and I need a quick-fix lunch or dinner. Both TH and I love it with roti and if I am in no mood to mix, roll, and cook up rotis, I just make an easy jeera rice (please ignore the pictures in that jeera rice post. kthanx) and we are good to go.

What's better than a simple dal tadka or dal makhani? Dal Pancharatni! Panchratan means five jewels and in this particular recipe we use a mix of five different types of dal or lentils. A dal cannot get more interesting than that!

I got a bag of mixed dal from a  supermarket in Delhi when I was there last. This makes the job of making panchratan dal so much easier because otherwise you'd have to buy the dal separately. I haven't seen this in Singapore though.

Dal Panchratan / Pancharatani Recipe
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
4 tbsp chana dal (split Bengal gram)
1/4 cup tuvar (arhar) dal
1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram)
3 tbsp urad dal (whole black lentils)
1/4 cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 large tomato, pureed
1 large onion, ground to a paste
1" piece of ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 tsp ghee (or oil)
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds (optional)
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the mixed dal (lentils) with 5 cups water and the turmeric powder for 4-5 whistles or until the dal is cooked mushy. Alternately, bring the dal and water mixture to a boil and simmer on low heat until cooked. This will take between 45 mins to an hour.

2. Heat oil for tempering in a kadai (that's big enough to hold everything) and add the ingredients in the given order. Let the cumin seeds splutter and turn brown and the mustard seeds (if using) pop. Next, add the ginger and garlic and fry for a minute.

3. The onion paste and red chilli powder go in next. Cook until the paste is fried to a ligher colour (about 3-4 mins). Next, add the pureed tomato and salt. Mix well and let it simmer for another 3-4 mins.

4. Finally, add the cooked dal, mix well and simmer for 5 mins until all the flavours have blended. Check salt.

Best served hot with roti or lightly flavoured pulao / pilaf.

Kerala Parippu Curry / Kerala Yellow Dal Recipe

Ever had a Kerala sadya? If you have, then this parippu (dal) is the first thing you would mix with rice and ghee and feel the first flavour of what is essentially the essence of Kerala food. 

Before you ask, of course we add coconut to our yellow dal, we wouldn't have it any other way for a dal recipe that's uniquely Malayali! For Kerala cooking, split yellow lentils / moong dal cherupayar, is more used than toor dal. Moong dal is also a very important ingredient in Ayurveda based cooking and is said to have a better effect on our health than most other kinds of lentils. 

Kerala Parippu Curry Recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 cup moong dal / cherupayar / split yellow dal
A pinch of turmeric


Grind Together:
1/2 cup coconut (fresh or frozen, not dessicated)
1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera / jeerakam
2-3 shallots
2-3 green chillies

For Tempering:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds / kaduku
3 shallots, sliced
1 red chilli, torn into two
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Roast the dal in a dry skillet until it turns a light golden brown. I generally do this in bulk and store moong dal this way to prevent bugs. It also makes the dal much more fragrant after cooking.

2. Grind the coconut with the rest of the ingredients and some water into a smooth paste.

3. Pressure cook the moong dal with 4 cups water and a generous pinch of turmeric. Once done, mash well to a smooth paste. Keeping the flame on low, add the ground coconut mixture and some salt to the dal. Cook until well blended - about 5-8 mins.

4. Heat oil for tempering and add the ingredients in the order given. Once the mustard seeds have popped and the red chilly starts to glisten a deep red, remove from fire and dunk everything into the dal mixture. Mix well.

Serve hot with steamed rice and ghee. 

This Kerala Parippu Curry goes to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Ria this month. 

Dal Makhani / Creamy Black Lentils (but) No-Cream Recipe

I have posted my original dal makhani recipe before. The problem with that recipe was, it lacked colour although the flavour was just fine. Also, that recipe has cream in it. Why use cream when you can get lovely, creamy Dal Makhani without the cream. I've been 'hooked' to this Dal Makhani recipe since coming across Meena's recipe.




Dal Makhani Recipe
Serves 2
Adapted from: Hooked on Heat


Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole black lentils / whole urad dal
1 onion, minced
1 tomato, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp tomato paste (or 1 large tomato, pureed)
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
water, 1 to 2 cups
salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and saute onions till lightly browned. Stir in salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste, and tomato paste and fry for a few seconds.

2. Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes to combine well. Add dal and enough water to cover them (about 2 cups). Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles minutes till lentils are soft and done. Stir in milk and let it come to a boil.

3. In a separate pan, heat butter and add whole garlic cloves slit in the middle. Stir the tempering into the lentils and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Serve with warm rotis or pulao.

Methi Yellow Dal / Fenugreek Leaves in Yellow Dal Recipe

I am a huge methi fan and at every given chance, I try to catch up on all the methi eating I missed while in Kerala where methi leaves are almost unheard of (although fenugreek seeds are very much part of the cuisine).

Sometimes methi parathas are too much trouble because I am so darn lazy so I whip up this super easy methi dal. All you need to serve it is some steamed white rice and ghee. 

Methi Yellow Dal 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 bunch of fenugreek/methi leaves

3/4 cup toor dal / tuvar dal

1/2 tsp tamarind paste or 1 tsp amchur / dried mango powder

3-4 green chillies, slit

1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)

A pinch of turmeric

Salt to taste

For tempering:

2 tsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds

A pinch of hing / asafoetida / perungaayam

2 cloves garlic, sliced long

A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the toor dal in 2 cups water with chopped methi leaves, turmeric and green chillies until soft (about 4 whistles). 

2. Once the pressure leaves the pan, set it back on moderate heat and add salt, chilli powder and amchur or tamarind paste. Bring to a slow boil. If the consistency is too thick, add some water when boiling. Once the ingredients all come together, remove from fire and set aside. 

3. Heat oil for tempering and add all the items in the list to temper. When the mustard seeds start popping, dunk it all into the prepared dal and mix well. 

Serve warm with rice and ghee or rotis.

Sending this to Priya's Think Spice - Think Fenugreek event, a brainchild of Sunita.