LENTILS MASALA / CURRY



Dear friends, how are you all doing? I am back with a post after a long time. My babies are 4 months old now and doing fine. Currently my mother-in-law is staying with us to help us with the babies and she does all the cooking. My entire day is spent with my munchkins. Taking care of 2 infants is quite a challenge and most of the time I am tired and sleepy. At the end of the day all you want is to just go and sleep when one of the babies decides not to sleep  .Coming on to the recipe, I managed to take some photos of dishes when my mother-in-law was cooking. This is one such dish where she was trying to clean my pantry. I had some leftover lentils which I had stocked up for making soup and she made this tasty dish out of them. She had used only a few ingredients here. This was very good with rice and we had the same with chapathis for dinner. The green chilies used here can also be substituted with 1 teaspoon of chili powder.

INGREDIENTS
1. Lentils, any type (I have used dupuy or French lentils). 1 cup.
2. Onions, 1 medium size.
3. Tomatoes, 2, medium size.
4. Green chilies, 2.
5. Ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon.
6. Sambar powder, 1 teaspoon.
7. Any masala powders like garam masala, chicken masala, or biryani powder, 1 teaspoon. ( I have used MTR vangibath masala).
8. Curry leaves, 1 sprig.
9. Chopped cilantro, 2 tablespoons.
10. Salt as per taste.
11. Mustard seeds, ¼ teaspoon.
12. Cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon.

PREPARATION:
Wash and cook the lentils until they are tender. I used a pressure cooker for cooking the lentils. Chop the onions and tomatoes and slit the green chilies into two. Heat a pan with some oil and splutter the mustard seeds once the oil is hot. Then add the cumin seeds and fry for a few seconds. Add the diced onions and fry for a few minutes until the onions turn translucent. Then add the diced tomatoes, curry leaves, green chilies, ginger-garlic paste and sauté everything for a few more minutes until everything is well blended. Now add the sambar power, masala powder, and salt and cook for a few more minutes until the spices lose its raw smell. Finally add the cooked lentils with 2/3 cup of water, mix everything well, and cook closed for a 3-5 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with chapathis or rice.

19 comments:

Dori said...

Very easy :) Also sounds good!

chef and her kitchen said...

Nice n simple one...would love 2 c ur twins ..:)it must b really challenging naa..

Priya Suresh said...

Glad to see u back,hugs and kisses to ur lil one..Enjoy ur MIl's foods Gita..

Lentils curry looks simply marvellous,a prefect side dish for rotis..

Lena Jayadev said...

easy and healthy recipe... snap is really nice :)

Shama Nagarajan said...

comfort recipe dear..how are ur kids?.names?,,,,,,,warm hugs . please rush ur entries for Fast food-Noodles in my blog.

Suparna said...

Hey gita, glad to see your post and hear from you after sometime :P
Take good care and rest. My hugs to ur babies :P

The masala curry looks yummy..good with rotis..
Ciya

Hamaree Rasoi said...

It's really very tough job to manage to small kids . It's good that your MIL is there to help you.
Nice curry dear

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Malar Gandhi said...

Sounds perfect. And kudos to ur M-I-L. Good that she is helping you out. Finally some rest, enjoy motherhood Gita, TC.

Cheers,
Malar

GEETHA ACHAL said...

welcome back geetha...How r the kutties doing..

Nice lentils Masala...Thanks...

Hamsi said...

Welcome back. as usual interesting and healthy recipe. Love it.

Hamsamalini Chandrasekaran,
http://indianyummykitchen.blogspot.com

Nandinis food said...

So simple yet yummy! Suitable for rice...

Treat and Trick said...

Welcome back dear! This is yummy and nutritious..

http://treatntrick.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Glad to know babies are great. I cannot even imagine the stress. Just with one I know we struggled, with 2, it must be literally doubled.

The curry looks great and I love the idea of adding sambar powder as well in the curry :)

Suja Manoj said...

Glad to see you back dear, delicious recipe,super yum

Panchpakwan said...

Delicious curry..

divya said...

wow.. i am drooling here.looks so good..Glad to see u back.how are ur kids?.names?,,,,,,,warm hugs

vidhas said...

HEALTHY RECIPE, SOUNDS YUM. I CAN VERY WELL UNDERSTAND HOW TOUGH IT WILL BE TO LOOK AFTER 2 BABIES.

Unknown said...

Congrats on the new arrivals! And the dal looks spicy and appealing!

Unknown said...

wonderful blog! And this recipe I will try for sure :)