Tomatillo Dal

Today was a very tiring day. In addition to my daily cooking chores, I had too many things to take care of. During such days, I turn to this this simple "no-fail" comforting dal. Preparing dal is a simple & straightforward process - pressure cook dal/lentils along with the vegetables and finish it off with a garnish/tempering. The wonderful aroma of tempering/tadka itself is so appetizing that it will make you want to eat.

Tomatillos, "cousin" of red tomatoes, has a vibrant green color and looks like a small, under-ripe tomato hidden inside a paper-like husk. Discard this delicate husk, and what you have inside is a slightly sticky vegetable with a sweet-tart flavor. When saute 'ed tomatillos becomes very soft and gives a citrusy flavor.

Tomatillos works beautifully well with pigeon peas to make this luscious, comforting dal.

This healthy dal is very simple to make and can be eaten with rice/roti. I usually add either tamarind (or) lime juice to my dal recipes, but this recipe doesn't need anything as tomatillos are very tangy just by themselves.

Some more delicious dal recipes.,

Dal Palak

Dal Makhani

Palakura Pappu

Gongura Pappu

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple

Prep time - 15 mins

Cook time - 30 mins

Serves - 3-4

Ingredients

1 cup Toor dal/ Pigeon peas

1 small Onion, chopped

1 small Tomato, chopped

5-6 Tomatillos, chopped

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1-2 tsp Red chilli powder, adjust according to your taste & tolerance to heat

handful of chopped Cilantro

Salt to taste

2 tsp Ghee/Oil

Tadka

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

3/4 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Channa dal
1 tsp Urad dal

2-3 dry red Chillies

1/2 tsp Hing powder

1 sprig of Curry leaves

Instructions

Pressure cook toor dal in 2.5 cups of water along with turmeric powder, chopped onion, tomatoes & tomatillos for upto 4 whistles. Let it cool.

Slightly mash the dal with the back of a ladle and transfer it to a pan. Add red chilli powder, salt and cook until the raw smell of red chilli powder is gone. Add more water if required and adjust the consistency of dal. Remove from heat.

Heat 2 tsp of ghee/oil and add all of the items given under "Tadka" one after the other in the given order. Wait for the mustard seeds to splutter before adding cumin seeds. Rest of the ingredients needs to be roasted until crisp and fragrant.

Add tadka to the cooked dal along with chopped cilantro. Mix well and serve hot!