Dal Shorba

Ingredients:
Serves: 4-5
1 cup masoor dal
3 onions, sliced
4 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
3 teaspoons curry powder
3 tomatoes, cut into big pieces
6 tablespoons chopped spinach leaves
1 tablespoon oil
salt and lime juice to taste

Method:
Heat the oil in a pot and fry the onions for a few seconds.
Add the crushed garlic, chili and curry powders. Fry again for a few seconds.
Add 6 teacups of water, the tomatoes and washed masoor dal and cook in a pressure cooker.
When cooked, blend in a blender.
Boil for 15 minutes. Add salt.
Just before serving, add the spinach and boil for a few seconds. Serve hot with a slice of lemon

Lemon Pepper Rasam

Ingredients:
Serves: 4
1/4 cup toor dal
1 cup water
a piece of fresh ginger (2 1/2 cm, 1 in), peeled and grated
4 green chills
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
3/4 tsp. black peppercorns
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
salt to taste
2 tomatoes, quartered
juice of 1 lemon
coriander leaves, chopped to garish

For Seasoning:
2 tsp. ghee
1 tsp. brown mustard seeds
1/2 tsp. asafetida powder
1 red Chile, halved
a few curry leaves

Method:
Wash Toor dal well. Drain. Place dal in a heavy saucepan. Cover with 1 cup water and bring to the boil. When boiling, cover pan with a lid, leaving slightly ajar. Lower the heat, and simmer dal gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until soft. Stir several times during the last 30 minutes of cooking. (The water should be mostly gone). Set dal aside without draining. You may also use the pressure cooker to cook this dal.
Using an electric blender or food processor, blend the fresh ginger and green chills into a paste. Now blend or process the cumin seeds and black peppercorns into a powder. Set both aside.
Place the undrained cooked dal in a heavy saucepan. Add 1 1/2 cups extra water, ground turmeric, salt to taste, and ginger/chili paste. Slowly bring to the boil.

Seasoning:
Heat 2 tsp. ghee in a heavy frying pan or skillet. Add mustard seeds, asafetida powder, halved red chili, a few curry leaves, and pepper/cumin seed powder.  When the mustard seeds splutter, add this mixture to the rasam. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice.
Garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.

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