Dhal Methi

After a rich and delicious mutton biriyani,today I am sharing you a simple and flavorful dhal recipe.I try to include greens in our diet at least weekly once.Methi aka fenugreek leaves I buy every other week and make either sambar or methi paratha.Recently I started making Karakulambhu aslo using this leaves.Here I used the pressure cooker to make thedhal in a jiffy.My mom adds a little tamarind water also for this dhal to make it slightly tangy taste.Now off to the recipe....................................

Basic Information

Preparation Time ~ 15 minutes
Cooking Time ~ 25 minutes
Serves ~ 2(generously)

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Fenugreek leaves/vendhayakeerai	1 cup
Toor dhal/thuvaram paruppu	1/2 cup
Onion(finely chopped)	1(medium size)
Tomato(finely chopped)	1(large size)
Garlic/poondu(chopped)	3 fat cloves
Green chilly/pachamilagai	4-5(slit)
Turmeric powder	1/4 tsp
Tamarind/puli(optional)	small gooseberry size
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Salt	1 1/4tsp
Oil	2 tsp
Ghee/nei	1 tsp

For the tempering

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2 tsp
Urad dhal/uluthamparppu	1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/4 tsp
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Dried red chilly/varamilagai	1(broken)

Method

• Pressure cook the dhal for 3-4 whistles in a medium flame.Clean the methi leaves in water for 2-3 times to remove the soil particles.Soak the tamarind in 1/4 cup of water and extract it.

• To the cooked dhal add the methi leaves,onion,tomato,green chilly and salt.Pressure cook it for another 2 whistles.

• Once the pressure subsides give it a mix and add the tamarind water.Let it boil for 2 minutes.

• Meanwhile in a pan heat the oil and ghee,do the tempering with the given ingredients and add the chopped garlic,curry leaves.Fry it till golden and add it to the dhal mixture.Cook it for a minute and put off the flame.

• Dhal Methi is ready.

Serve it with steamed rice and pappad or some veggie fry.

Enjoy.........................................................

• Addition of tamarind water is purely optional but it reduces the bitterness from the fenugreek leaves.
• Do not chop the fenugreek leaves otherwise it may be bitter.