Khatti Arhar Daal- Pigeon Peas with Tamarind

Level of difficulty -Low

I got back from the East Coast yesterday after a white Christmas and San Francisco felt almost tropical in comparision. The year is almost over , it will be difficult to get used to writing the date with the year as 2009 till perhaps March.
Yellow lentils or Arhar Dal are the most popular lentils used all over India. There are many ways to make a comforting lentil stew. This recipe has a south indian twist to it and uses south indian ingredients like tamarind, mustard seeds, whole dried red chilli, curry leaves ( you can find these at any Indian store, you can buy a stalk and freeze the rest of the leaves, using them when needed).

Ingredients

1 cup yellow lentils (arhar dal)
4 cups of water
1 tspn corainder powder
1 1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 tspn garam masala
1/2 tspn red chilli powder (kashmiri mirch)
2 tbspn tamarind
1/2 tspn mustard seeds
1/2 tspn cumin seeds ( zeera)
2 whole dried red chillies
2 tbspn oil or ghee
5 curry leaves
coriander leaves chopped for garnish

Instructions

1. Pressure cook dal, water, coriander powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, turmeric for around 10 minutes on high flame till the 1-2 whistles of the pressure cooker.
2. Microwave the tamarind with 2 Tbspn of water for 40 seconds and fish out the seeds and fibres. The tamarind should be mashed with a spoon till it looks like a smooth paste.
3. When the steam has escaped, add the tamarind to the dal.
4. Add the oil/ghee to a small saucepan. Add the mustard seeds, whole red chillies, and cumin seeds to the hot oil/ghee till they splutter. Add the curry leaves. Now add the ghee/oil to the dal ad step back while you do that so that the hot oil does'nt hit your eyes.
5. Boil the dal for 5 minutes. Turn off the flame. Serve with chopped coriander.