Simple Tomato-Cucumber Daal

This recipe is for all the newbies in kitchen so that they don't have to worry too much about what to do next.Kind of one-pot dish.

Tomato and Cucumbers are a world-wide favorite.First,I started out to make daal with tomato but I saw that there was half a cucumber in the fridge and added that too.Hence the Tomato-Cucumber Daal recipe.This is a very simple and easy recipe.

Traditionally vegetables and daals(pulses/legumes) are cooked separately and then finally combined and seasoning is added ,that gives us an authentic feel and taste.Well , I am going to break the tradition a bit here and try to speed up the things a little bit as time is a factor these days.Enough talking let's start the recipe.

Main Ingredients :

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Toor Daal..................1cup

Tomatoes...................2(medium size)

Cucumber..................1/2

Green Chillies.............2

Water.........................3cups

Seasoning :

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Mustard Seeds...........1tsp

Cumin Seeds..............1tsp

Red Chilly..................1(broken into 2)

Asafoetida/Hing..........a pinch

Curry Leaves..............1 sprig
Tamarind Pulp............2tsp
Turmeric.....................1tsp

Garlic.........................2 cloves

Oil..............................2tsp

Ghee..........................1 tsp

Salt.............................to taste

Garnish :

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Cilantro

Preparation :

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Take toor daal in a steel vessel that can fit in a pressure cooker and rinse it very well till the water is clear.Now soak the daal in water for 15 minutes.Meanwhile let us prep the vegetables.Wash the tomatoes,cucumber,chillies,curry leaves and cilantro.Dice the tomatoes and de-skinned cucumber into small cubes.Slit the chillies and keep them aside.

Now drain the water from the soaked toor daal and add 3cups of water,diced tomato,cucumber and slit chillies to the toor daal.Now to this mix add the turmeric,tamarind and required amount of salt.Once everything is put in the vessel, take the vessel and place it in the pressure cooker and on medium heat cook it for 6 whistles.

Once the pressure in the cooker is down take the vessel with the cooked daal out and place it aside.In a pan add the oil and ghee and once it heats up add mustard seeds,cumin seeds,red chilli,asafoetida(instead of asafoetida you can use chopped garlic in the seasoning) and curry leaves.Once the seasoning is ready add it to the tomato-cucumber daal mixture and let the daal boil for 5 more minutes so that all the flavors blend well.

Switch off the stove and pour the daal into a serving container and garnish with some cilantro.
This daal goes very well with rotis,chapatis,pulkas and hot rice.

Note :
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1)It is always said that when you add salt and tamarind in the daal and try to pressure cook, the daal will not  be cooked.I disagree with this, as when I am short of time I place all the ingredients together and pressure cook for 6 whistles and the daal is very well done.

2)To make it a one pot dish I take a small pressure pan ,first I add the oil and seasoning then I place the  water,daal,vegetables,turmeric,salt and tamarind.Close the lid and cook for 6 whistles.Ta-Da the entire dish is ready to serve .

3)Some might like to add onions to this dish.You may do so but sweetness of onion will dominate the flavors of tomato and cucumber.

4)I added only 2tsp of tamarind pulp in the daal so that the original flavors of the vegetables are not compromised.If you want it more sour add 2 more spoons of tamarind pulp.

I am sending in this recipe to Cooking Basics Event conducted by Mahimaa of http://www.indianvegetariankitchen.com/2010/02/cooking-basics-event.html