What's better than food? - Toor Dal

I'm not sure which is better, cooking with the kids or reading with them. They love to read books. Each night Poet and Flower curl up on the sofa with G to "read books on the 'puter" or read digital books together. They read all sorts of things - from Pinkalicious, about a girl who loves pink, to who are doctors and what do they do. Nothing is better than a good book before bedtime.

The kids also love to eat. Poet and Flower definitely love kid food -chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hot dogs. They wrinkle their noses at a long list of foods, but they will try so many different foods. Flower loves to help make pancakes by flipping them on the weekend. Poet prefers to eat the batter. And because I love to cook and spend so much time in the kitchen, the kids also love to.

So what can be better than books about cooking? G has made an enormous effort to find books that reflect our Indian American experience with the kids reading. And I am so happy that a lot has changed since I was a kid. One of the kids' favorite books is Bilal Cooks Daal, written by Aisha Saeed and illustrated by Anoosha Syed. It's a charming book that talks about how a little boy, Bilal, learns about dal from his father. He learns about his food and culture and then can share a bowl of dal with his friends. Yum.

This week I made toor dal. Similarly, sambar is a South Indian lentil dish made with toor dal, tomatoes, and spices. Toor dal or split yellow pigeon peas are delicious. It goes great with rice, idli, uttapam, or dosa. You can buy store-bought sambar powder. My mom would make her own by adding coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, and a little chili powder. You can also add any vegetables on hand, like eggplant, carrots, cauliflower, or enjoy it plain.

And on a cold fall day, a bowl of dal all by itself can be delicious. Curl up this weekend with a good book and some dal. 

Toor Dal

A delicious Indian lentil dish with tomatoes, coriander and cumin. You can add any vegetables you have on hand like okra, eggplants, or green beans or enjoy itmall by itself. 

Serves 4

Dal Masala

• 1/2 cup toor dal (rinsed)
• 1/2 medium onion (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 green chili (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 large tomato (chopped)
• 1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
• 1 cup vegetables (Like okra, eggplant, carrots, green beans, zucchini - cut into small 2 inch pieces)
• 1 teaspoon tamarind paste

Bagar Masala

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 2 stems curry leaves (just leaves)
• 1/2 medium onion (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

1. In a 3 quart saucepan, add the toor dal, onion, turmeric, green chili and garlic. Add 4 cups of water, bring to boil then simmer on medium/low heat for 25 to 30 minutes. The dal should be soft and squishy but not a total mush. Gently mash the garlic.

2. While the dal is cooking, in a medium saucepan, heat the oil and saute the curry leaves for 30 seconds until sizzling. Ad the onions and saute until soft about 10 minutes.

3. Add the coriander powder, cumin powder and chili powder. Mix well for about 10 seconds then add the tomatoes. Saute until soft, about 10 minutes.

4. Add the vegetables, cilantro, tamarind and salt. Give it a good stir.

5. Add the dal mixture. Bring to a boil and then simmer 15 to 20 minutes, just until the vegetables are cooked. It may need about a 1/4 or 1/2 cup of water if it looks too thick. If you want it to be a little more tart, add a touch more tamarind.

6. Serve with rice or naan.

You can also make this in an Instant pot. Add the toor dal, onion, turmeric, green chili and garlic in your instant pot with 3 cups of water.  Manual high pressure 5 minutes, then natural release 5 minutes. Then follow the rest of the recipe for the bagar.