Day 2 of #30daysofdaal brought many difficulties. You know how they say in Hindi – sir mudaate hi ole pade – disaster has struck the moment you took the first step.
Power fluctuations and issues fazed me for most of the day. Then I started writing the post in the evening, typed 500 words, and somehow lost them. Yes!! That happens to bloggers and it is very vexing.
So to recap, I will be posting a daal recipe everyday in June. I started with Daal Tadka, one of the simplest and most popular of daal recipes. And this tomato daal follows on its heels.
Tomato Daal with cumin and chili is very easy and quick to make but it tastes divine. The heat from the green chili – you can use whatever you have available like jalapeno, serrano, poblano etc. – the smoky cumin seeds and the tangy tomatoes come together to make some magic of their own.
The secret sauce – simmer for 10 minutes at least. Like any stew, daal tastes best when it is slow cooked. We generally use a pressure cooker in India to cook daal. But I guess a slow cooker would work too. Some daals will cook faster on the stove top. But tur daal which I am using here is hard to cook that way.
Daal is such an integral part of the Indian meal, whether you go north, south, east or west. This particular recipe is a childhood favorite of mine. It is what my granny produced for me whenever my cranky, hungry self turned her nose up at some veggies she didn’t like. Actually, I was pretty good about eating veggies :). Sometimes I just acted out to get this tomato daal on the table.
As I mentioned before, daal is cooked daily in a typical Indian household. People often have plain cooked daal in the fridge, and then it is just a matter of using a part of it in a recipe.
This tomato daal is vegan and low cal, and it is high in protein. You can just slurp it like a stew. Daal is one of the larger sources of daily protein for people in India.
Tomato Daal with Cumin Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor daal cooked
- 1/2-1 cup water
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1-2 green chili chopped
- 1 Tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric ground
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro (optional)
- 2 Tbp oil
- Pinch of Hing or Asafetia
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
Method
- Heat oil in wok or thick stock pot.
- When oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Immediately add hing, turmeric powder and chillies.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for a minute.
- Now add the cooked daal and salt/ sugar
- Add water to get desired thickness.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Add chopped cilantro 1 minute before switching off heat.
- Serve hot with rice or roti.
- Note - the more you simmer, the more the flavors will come together.
Try this spicy tangy Tomato Daal today and get ready for the next one in #30daysofdaal.
Even though I just had breakfast, this has made me look forward to lunch. Though it’s a pity that I will have to make do with office cafeteria food, but looking forward to give it a try for dinner, looks yummy 🙂
Hello Akanksha, welcome 🙂 That is so kind of you. I know, cafeteria food wears off by Friday afternoon. But hey, TGIF!
We have lots more coming in #30daysofdaal.
thanks,
pragati