Gujarati Style Toor Dhal

Warm up your winter chill with this divine Indian soup! Lovely and tasty.

Serves 5

Ingredients:

½ cup toor dhal
¼ cup raw peanuts, skinless
1 medium Tomato, chopped
1 Green chili, cut into large pieces
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
6 – 7 curry leaves (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon hing powder (also known as asafoetida)
3 – 4 pieces dry kokum (garcinia indica) or you can substitute with
2 teaspoons lemon juice or 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp.
50 – 60 grams jaggery (Indian brown sugar also known as gur, panela).
You can substitute with sugar or brown sugar.
1 ½ teaspoon red chili powder (adjust to your taste)
2 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder (also known as haldi)
½ – 1 tablespoon Oil
4 cups water
Salt to taste

Method:

In a pressure cooker, wash & drain toor dhal and peanuts. Add 1 ½ cups of water, ½ teaspoon salt and place pressure cooker on medium heat to cook dhal. Wait for 4-5 whistles before turning off heat. Allow the pressure to settle. This usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size of your cooker.
While dhal is cooking, find another pot to heat the oil, then add mustard seeds and as the seeds start popping, add hing (asafoetida), curry leaves, ginger, green chili and sauté for 1 minute. Add 2 ½ cups water, tomatoes, cilantro (fresh coriander leaves), jaggery (Indian brown sugar), and kokum (garcinia indica) and bring to a boil.
Add red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
By this time, the dhal should be cooked. Ensure pressure is settled completely, open lid and with a wire whisk or handy blender, mash dhal completely so that a rather smooth texture is achieved.
Add dhal to the simmering pot of water & spices, add salt to taste and allow it to simmer for another 15 – 20 minutes until water level has reduced by about 1/5 of the initial level. This dhal is not thick. You may also want to continue to simmer until you reach your desired thickness of dhal.
Serve dhal with chapattis or rice. Note: Once heat is turned off, dhal will separate with a watery top and thick bottom, so just give a quick stir before serving.

Please refer to pictures below to guide you:

Toor Dhal – dry non-oily version

Skinless Peanuts

Dhal & peanuts with 1 ½ cups of water just before pressure cooking

Pressure cook – fast and easy!

Dhal and peanuts after being pressured!

Fresh Ingredients (from left) – fresh tomatoes with curry leaves, chopped cilantro (coriander),
kokum (garcinia indica), ginger, green chili & jaggery (Indian brown sugar) in the center!