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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Cucumber Dal

Dal and rice is like a comfort food, which is so simple yet an tasty meal to have. Now this preparation of moong dal and cucumber is simply irresistible in its taste.

Ingredients

1 cup - Moong dal, washed well
1 - Cucumber, cut to small pieces,without skin
1 - Green chili, slit in center
1/2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
2 big pinches - Seedless tamarind
Salt to taste

Seasoning

1 tsp - Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp - Jeera / Cumin seeds
1/8 tsp - Hing powder
3 flakes - Garlic, finely grated
1 to 2 sprig - Curry leaves
4 - Dry red chili, split into two

Method

1 ) In a pan add 3 to 4 cups of water, bring to a boil, add moong dal, green chili, red chili and turmeric powder. Simmer and cook dal covered with a lid, till dal is half cooked. Then add cucumber and continue cooking till the dal is fully cooked.

2 ) Meanwhile add little water to tamarind and extract the juice. Pour the juice into the dal, add salt to taste and cook till tamarind and salt flavors are incorporated in dal. Add little more water if the dal is too thick, to make a semi thick consistency.

3 ) Heat oil in another pan, add mustard and pop it. Then add jeera, hing, garlic, red chili and curry leaves. Fry for few seconds. Pour the seasoning on the dal, stir and mix in.


Serve hot with white steamed rice and pappad.

Note : You can use toor dal instead of moong dal for this recipe. Usually indian cucumber is used for this recipe.

14 comments:

Madhavi said...

Hi..You have wonderful blog dear, love all the recipes. Cucumber dal looks awesome, thanxx for sharing!!!

BTW I read ur post on IHM, m wid u that's not fair.

Pravs said...

Madhavi : Thank you ! Thanks for supporting me on the "Indian homemakers in USA" forum Issue in orkut. I am not sure how i can make the person who has used my picture without my permission understnad she is not supposed to do it.

Divya said...

Never tried cucumber dal ..looks tempting will try tommo .. thanks for sharing

Padmaja said...

My mom's favourite combination.
She used to make this quite often at home. Love this dish

Deepa Kuber said...

cucumber dal is new to me.. i will try this weekend..

Richa said...

what a lovely color, pravs! i like moong, will give this a try, adding cucumber in dal is so nice :)

Kalai said...

Wonderful idea to add cucumber to dal! Pls visit my blog to find a surprise waiting for you! :)

Jamie said...

Pravs, as usual, this looks wonderful! I have left something for you at my blog. Please stop by to check it out!

http://flavorpantry.blogspot.com/

Namratha said...

Pravs, I've tagged you for a MeMe on my blog, take a look :)

SASHREE said...

cucumber dal looks awesome,nice pics too

zlamushka said...

Cucumber dal looks fabulous. I bet it is refreshing and spicy at the same time. Bookmarked.
Pravs... would you consider volunteering your beautiful blog to my Tried & Tasted event?

Bhawana said...

I am going to cook this dal for sure... verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry tasty looks

Foodie said...

When you say Indian cucumber, do you mean dosakai?

Pravs said...

Foodie : Yes dosakai.