Aalo Tamatar wali masoor daal (Potato-tomato masoor daal)

I love daals! In all forms and varieties. I don't mind having them everyday. So there is always a wide variety of daals in my dry foods cupboard. And since today I ran out of options for a side dish for poori (fried indian bread), I cooked up some daal.

This masoor daal is cooked with potatoes and tomatoes. Poori without potato is incomplete. Even if channa is the side-dish, it needs to have some potatoes in it, else it is incomplete. So when I had nothing but daal to cook for the dinner, I added some potatoes to it!

You can also add spinach (which was my original idea but I ran out of spinach) to the daal. Below is the recipe for Aalo-tamatar wali massor daal

Ingredients:

Black and red masoor dal - 1/2 cup each (you can use any type of masoor daal you have)
Tomatoes - 2 medium sized diced
Potatoes - 2 medium sized cut into bite sized cubes (I used baby potatoes, they just taste so much better)
Onion - 2 finely sliced
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder and jeera/cumin powder - 1 tsp each
Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water for cooking
Oil - 1 tsp

For tempering/Tadka
Ghee(clarified butter) - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds, cumin/jeera seeds - 1 tsp
Garlic and ginger finely sliced
Sliced green chilli - 1
Red chillies - 2
Curry leaves and mint leaves

Method:

1. Pressure cook the masoor dal, potatoes, tomatoes with turmeric powder, salt and water. Proportion of water must be 2 and a half times that of daal. I pressure cooked for 3 whistles and then let the pressure release naturally.

2. In a pan, add 1 tsp of oil and sliced onions. Saute till golden brown.
3. Add the coriander and cumin powder with kasoori methi. Add the cooked daal mix and bring it to a boil. Adjust the consistency with a little water.

4. In a small wok, add Ghee for tempering. Once hot add the tempering mixture. The mustard seeds would splutter and the garlic and ginger slices must brown well.
5. Add the tadka mixture to the cooked daal and voila its done!

You can use this daal as a side with rotis as well as rice. Don't forget to squeeze lemon before serving. The daal will taste tangy from the tomatoes with a bit of sweetness from the onions. The potatoes and daal taste more wholesome with the ghee and the tempering. So just sit back and enjoy your meal.