Have you heard people saying, “it's complicated”? Can I share a secret with you? Sometimes when I hear people say it, I wonder whether they make it up. Ok, before you start raising your eyebrows, let me explain.
I think I need to put a disclaimer before going on with the explanation. I'm just thinking out loud here. So these are just my thoughts, it can be right or wrong, but I'm sharing it with you as it is. I think, these days we have a tendency to “glorify” each and every little thing we do. (I'm guilty as charged.) We try to portray each and every thing in our life, even mundane things sound exciting/eventful/adventurous. Yes, you can say we are celebrating life, that's one way to look at it.
At times, I feel when we are so engrossed in the process of glorification, we are missing out on simpler things in life. We want to make everything a larger than life experience, everything “happening”. So when somebody asks how's life, instead of saying “just going on, as usual”, we tend to say “great! but it's complicated”. We dont want the other person to have an impression that we are leading a simple, routine ,uneventful, stable life. There is no excitement in it.
But honestly, I think it's way more difficult to lead a simple life than an exciting one. To find “excitement” in simple things is a challenge in itself. What do you think?
Anyways, all I wanted to say was that this dal curry is as simple as it gets. There are no exciting ingredients or methods to follow. Pretty straight forward recipe with a simple set of ingredients. But the end result never fails to give you a warm embrace. Just the kind you want… to let you know, everything will be ok in the end, even if it's complicated :)
Though this recipe looks similar to “Parippu Curry” which I've posted earlier, it tastes different. The addition of garlic and fennel seeds gives a different flavour. Also this curry goes well with rice and roti too.
Here's the recipe for you…
Wash toor dal and pressure cook it with 3 cups water, sliced onion and turmeric powder, until dal becomes soft…
Add the coconut paste to the cooked dal, mix well. Add chopped tomato and 1- 1.5 cups hot water. Let it cook for 5-7 mins on low flame. Switch off the gas…
Heat oil in a pan and crackle the mustard. Add small onion and curry leaves. When the small onion starts changing colour, add green chillies. Fry it till the small onion turns golden brown. Add this to the dal and mix well.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Toor dal
- 1 med – big Onion (sliced)
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 medium Tomato (chopped)
- 1/3 cup Grated Coconut
- A pinch Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam)
- 1/2 – 1 tsp Chopped garlic
- 3 Small onion / Pearl Onion (sliced)
- 3 – 4 Green chilli (slit lengthwise)
- 1/2 tsp Mustard
- Curry leaves
- Salt
- Oil (I used coconut oil)
Instructions
- Wash toor dal and pressure cook it with 3 cups water, sliced onion and turmeric powder, until dal becomes soft (refer notes).
- Grind together coconut, fennel seeds, chopped garlic, 3-4 tbsp of water and salt to a smooth paste.
- Add the coconut paste to the cooked dal, mix well. Add chopped tomato and 1- 1.5 cups hot water.Let it cook for 5-7 mins on low flame. Switch off the gas.
- Heat oil in a pan and crackle the mustard. Add small onion and curry leaves. When the small onion starts changing colour, add green chillies. Fry it till the small onion turns golden brown. Add this to the dal and mix well.
- Serve hot with plain rice, Pulao, Ghee rice or roti.
Notes
You can use Masoor dal or Green peas dal instead of toor dal.
Hi Maria,
I just came across your blog sometime ago and I must say that you do a great job of maintaining it..Love your pics and the fact that I can directly take print outs without any hassles.
However , when it comes to searching and finding recipes, I have a few concerns :
– I think you need re look at your categories.
For example , when I search under the category “Vegetarian recipes”, I also see some non veg (chicken recipe )that shows up.. also I see around 31 pages of recipes and if i need lets say only curry, it still shows me appetizers , desserts and soon I loose interest and patience and move on to another site.
Can we have some more categories like , veg -Side dish , non veg side dishes, Veg curries,non veg curries..etc..
Also I really think the search Tab is not working , coz, when I ask for Dhal curry , its showing me ” Meen curry “!!!
I generally refer kothiyavunnu.com for most of the recipes and feel it helps in searching more efficiently.
Hi Donna,
Thanks for dropping by MM and for your feedback :)
The reason why you are seeing some non veg recipes under veg category is because, I might have given veg alternatives for the non veg recipes and hence I’ve included it under the veg category also. I’ll try to refine the categories to make it user friendly.
The search bar is working fine, the reason why you are seeing meen curry under dhal is because, may be I’ve given a link for dal curry in the meen curry post ;)
Happy cooking!
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Today I made this parippu curry and your onam sadya instant mango pickle for lunch. The combination was so yummy….a marriage made in heaven. I’ve never been fond of parippu curry But this one is absolutely delicious!! I used masoor dal and ground some kanthari mulaku along with coconut to bring up the heat level. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. It’s definitely a keeper!!
please post north indian restaurant style dal (plain dal fry)
Hi Sophie,
I hope to do that soon :) Wish you a Happy New Year!
Cheers
Maria
I am making for the fourth time in as many weeks! We love it, good for non-meat days. Great with creamed coconut in sachets. Simple, tasty and cheap, and nice to use leftovers for a side dish with a meat curry. Thanks Maria
Hi Dee,
Thanks a lot for your comment :) It’s one of our fav recipes too..
Have you tried this dal with ghee rice? https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/vegetarian/nei-choru-ghee-rice
It’s a great combo with pappad on the side :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria.. can i add the tomatoes with the dal ?Cause i don’t like the raw smell of tomato
Hi Sajila,
You can do that..
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria, do you think I could use coconut milk instead of coconut.
I always make dal curry but tried this recipe with coconut last week..came out yum :) also tried oats payasam…loved it(love all jaggery payasams)Thanks so much for your great & simple recipes…
Thanks a bunch Ann for trying the recipes and for sharing your feedback here, appreciate it very much :)
Jaggery based payasam is my weakness ;)
I tried with the Masoor dal..came out well…Thank you !
You are welcome Abeesh :) Thanks for the comment!
Hi I just tried this recipe n it turned out to be great????
Thank you Mafida :)
Excellent Recipe. I tried it out yesterday, it was just simple and tasty.
Thanks Maria, for sharing this recipe. God Bless,Linnet
Thanks Linnet dear :) I’m glad you liked it.
I always try out your wonderful receipes,it always comes out good thanks for posting these sumptous receipes
Thank you very much Ruby for trying out the recipes and also for leaving a comment here :)
Nice recipe… You have a lovely blog maria… yet to try ur non veg recipes… Do check mine wen u get time…
http://www.happyscook.com
Thank you! Best wishes for your blog too..
Thanks.. as always ur way of writing is like (4 me) reading a letter from mom or sis.. talking to us directly frm ur heart and i luv that… i’ll try this menu as always.. :)
Thanks Salu for the wonderful feedback :)