I hope you are enjoying my #30daysofdaal series and have tried at least one of the recipes I blogged about so far. I am trying to make them as simple as possible, breaking down ingredients so some basic flavors stand out.
I had the greatest time yesterday at Hard Rock Café Pune, mixing summer mojitos and tasting them. You never really know what works and what doesn’t until you taste it, and I actually came up with a winning lychee-coconut cocktail that is my new favorite.
Back to daal, because we always come back to daal, no matter how much we frolic, and I mean it in a rudimentary as well as deep sense. Today I am going to introduce you to one of my favorite daals, the split green moong daal or moong chilka daal. Chilka just refers to the skin. This particular recipe has always been a winter favorite in our family. Ginger makes it fiery, and I really love to pile on the ginger. Ginger root soothes throats and creates a warmth in the tummy – a must to battle winter. If you are new to eating fresh ginger root, I suggest you start out small and then increase the quantity as you develop a taste for it.
June 12 is when it is supposed to rain in Mumbai every year. Don’t ask me why. Judging by the afternoon showers we got today here in Pune, Monsoon seems to be firmly on its way. It is worth noting that we are preparing for Monsoon in India, buying raincoats, umbrellas and special footwear (do people still do that?), while summer has just begun in the West in higher latitudes.
I am using fresh coriander or cilantro in the daal because I love it. I do believe it gives a certain taste when combined with the ginger. I love using the split green moong daal for many favorites like pesarettu, dalia khichdi, sagari khichdi and so on. None of these recipes are on the blog yet, but maybe they will be, based on how much you people like this green moong daal recipe.
Turmeric is optional here because I don’t really like to use anything that takes away from the green color of the daal.
Ingredients
- ½ cup green moong daal
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 Tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- Pinch of hing or Asafoetida
- ½ tsp turmeric optional
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp goda masala or garam masala
- 1 tsp jaggery or sugar
- Salt to taste
- 2 Tbsp chopped coriander
Method
- Pressure cook daal with 2-3 cups of water until well cooked. You can also just wash and use uncooked daal using the same procedure as below, but with a higher cooking time.
- Heat oil in a wok or stock pot.
- Add mustard seeds and let them pop.
- Add hing, turmeric and cayenne pepper immediately.
- Now add the cooked daal and mix well.
- Season with salt, masala, jaggery or sugar.
- Grate in some fresh ginger and add some water to get desired consistency.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle. If you are using uncooked daal in step 1 above, simmer until the daal is completely cooked and smooth.
- Add fresh cilantro or coriander just before switching off heat.
- Serve hot with rice or as a soup.
This green moong daal is as simple as the daal tadka and as delicious. It tastes completely different from the other basic daals like moong daal or toor daal. You must try this out and let me know how it works for you.
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