Panchmel Dal - The Five-Lentil Curry and Week 2 of 2013

Hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far. For weeks now, I have been complaining about the cold. I never expected this part of the country to get into sub-zero temps. But it did and complain I did. Today has been better and it will be getting warmer over the weekend and I sure am getting happier with the weather.

For week 2, my resolutions still seem to be holding good. The theme for this week's Fifty-2 Weeks of 2013 project is the color garnet in photography. Now, garnet has many, many shades and pretty much anything goes as long as it is represented in the pic. That should open up a lot of options, right? But my visual creativity being minimal and my photography and composition skills being basic, this was a tough one for me. I had a few ideas, only to discard them for various reasons. When the idea I liked (and stuck with) finally hit, I have to say I really enjoyed setting up and trying out variations of the theme, including one with me - garnet lipstick, garnet ring and earrings and all- holding the glass of sparkling wine. I finally went with this picture below - far less tacky. On the bright side though, my hands got a long overdue, though quick, manicure because of that :)

Onto the recipe now. Panchmel Dal , as the name denotes, has five different lentils cooked together and fragrantly spiced. This is adapted from Panchmel dal recipes from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Priya of Mharo Rajasthan. We had this with plain rice and it was good!

Ingredients:

3 tbsp toor/tuvar dal (split pigeon peas)
3 tbsp urad dal (split black gram)
3 tbsp moong dal or whole moong (whole or split green gram)
3 tbsp chana dal (Bengal gram)
3 tbsp masoor dal or whole masoor (whole or split red lentils)
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp each red chilli powder, garam masala powder
1/2 tsp each turmeric powder, coriander powder and cumin powder
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

For the tadka:
1 tbsp ghee
a pinch of hing/asafoetida
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
3-4 cloves
1 dried red chilli, lightly crushed
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1-2 chopped green chillies

 Method:

If using whole unsplit dals, soak in warm water for 2-3 hours. Soak the remaining dals in water for 30 minutes.Wash and drain.
In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Fry onions until golden. Stir in the tomatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes or until slightly mushy.
Add the powders and the soaked dals. Mix well and stir in 3 cups of water. Cover and cook until soft (it takes 3 whistles in my pressure cooker).
Separately heat ghee in a small pan. Add hing and then the cumin seeds. Once they get darker, add cloves, red chilies, ginger and green chillies. Saute for a few seconds.
Pour this tadka to the cooked dal and season with salt. Serve hot.