SriLankan Coconut Dhal

This post has been pending for so long.Last few days I am posting like crazy as I always want to have atleast 10-12 posts a month.Though I always manage it every month,October has been very busy(lazy) for me.So I decided to get my act together and so am having a blogging overdose and hope I am not giving you headache as well.I hope to continue this as long as I could before something comes up and am back to being lazy.

Coming to todays post it is SriLankan dhal bookmarked from Maninas blog.She has several informative posts on SriLankan Cuisine and the dal was my first try.It turned superb -I must say here that I am not a great dal person and avoid it most of the times,but can vouch for the taste of this dal.Thanks, Maninas for the hearty recipe.

Ingredients:
Red Lentils: 1/2 cup
Onions/shallots/Sambar Onions : chopped: 2-3 tbsp
Garlic: 1-2 small cloves
CurryLeaves : as much as you like
Green Chillies: slit/chopped: 1+ as per taste

Turmeric Powder
Fenugreek Seeds:almost 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds + Black Pepper crushed: 1 tsp +

Coconut Milk: 4 tbsp +

Lemon juice

Tempering
Vegetable Oil/Ghee
Red Chillies: 1-2 chopped
CurryLeaves
Onion finely chopped: 1-2 tbsp

Seasoning Spices:
Equal amounts of mustard,cumin and fennel seeds.You can use brown/black mustrd seeds

Salt

Preparation:

Wash dal and add to it,chopped onions/shallots,shredded curryleaves and crushed garlic and water needed to cook the dal -1 cup + ie.Add in spices- turmeric powder,fresh ground/crushed cumin and blackpepper mixture,fenugreek seeds and bring to boil.Cook the dal till soft.

Add in coconut milk and salt and heat through.Here you can add thick or thin milk depending on the water remaining in the dal and also how thick you want the dal to be. I added almost 4 tbsp of thick coconut milk.

After this you can remove it from heat and then add a dash of lemon juice.The lemon juice can be added after the seasoning as well.I just added a small squeeze of lemon juice.

Now prepare the seasoning.I followed the same way as Maninas.I heated oil,added chopped red chillies and curryleaves and sauteed till they turned crisp.Then I added finely chopped onions and sauteed on low fire till they turned brown.Then I added the actual tadka/seasoning/ tempering spices of mustard seeds+ cumin seeds+ fennel seeds taken in equal amounts.As they splutter I added more fresh curryleaves for an aromatic finish.Then I poured the entire sesaoning on the Dhal keeping aside little for garnish. Cover the dhal with a lid and let it absorb the seasoning fully.

Adjust the salt and serve with rotis/rice or if you wish can have as a whole some soup.

I enjoyed it in all the three ways.The estimate easily serves 4 as a side or 2 as a soup.A warm bowl is off to MLLA#16 ,an event by the-well-seasoned Susan and currently at Jeanne's- the CookSister.