Toor Dal with Lime

It has been a long few weeks away from home. I crave my bed, my pillow and my food. Some rice, a vegetable and a bowl of freshly made dal. We are creatures of innate food habits, mine being rice and dal, synonymous with comfort and familiarity. It is that warm blanket that cocoons and fills you with a sense of belonging. My childhood food memories ebb and flow with these simple foods, a mound of piping hot white rice sitting next to a bowl of steaming dal.  

Dal is a generic term. Pulses or legumes come in a plethora of shapes, colors and sizes. Moong dal is dainty and small. Chana dal comes in fat half moons. Pink nuggets of masoor cook up in a jiffy. I could write an elegy but then I wouldn't have the time to talk about my favorite...toor dal. Some thirty odd years ago, newly married, I cooked dal for the first time. I hadn't the faintest idea which one to cook. I bought the pretty pink colored package of lentils. It didn't taste like home. I went out and bought another, grabbing small yellow legumes. Once again, it displeased. Alone in a foreign land, in a time when communication meant a letter or telephone call, I couldn't do a show and tell with Mum. Half a dozen dals later with a shelf laden with multicolored lentils, I stumbled upon my holy grail. Life was good and it still is!

This dal is a runny concoction. It starts with cooked toor dal, a generous amount of ghee, cumin, curry leaves, chilies, cilantro, sugar, water and lime juice all added in quick succession.The dal simmers for a few minutes  All it needs is some hot cooked rice.


TOOR DAL WITH LIME
Serves 4

1 cup cooked Toor Dal (see notes)
1 tablespoon Ghee
1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
5-6 Curry leaves
2-3 green Chiles, finely minced 
1/2 cup chopped Cilantro
1 Lime, juiced
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt


Heat ghee in a saucepan.

When it is hot, add cumin seeds. Let them turn dark brown.

Drop curry leaves and minced chiles into ghee. Let them sizzle for a few seconds.


Pour the cooked dal into the pan.

Add 1 cup of water to the pan. Stir to mix well.

Add cilantro, lime juice, sugar and salt to dal. 

Let dal come to boil, lower the flame and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Serve dal piping hot with rice. 



NOTES

Cook 1/2 cup toor dal with 1/4 teaspoon turmeric and a large pinch of asafoetida and enough water to cover the dal either in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes or on the stovetop till dal is soft and mushy.

I reach for dal and rice with my fingers, an old habit that surfaces in reflective moments. An well remembered feeling of comfort comes over me as I scoop and gather morsels. It states decisively I am where I want to be. 

Pin It