skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Cabbage is one of my favourite vegetables, pretty much no matter how it’s cooked – as long as that doesn’t mean cooking it to a stinky sulphur-y mush. I don’t care much for white cabbage, because (in my opinion) it’s stinkier and sulphur-ier than green cabbage. (It might not be any more or less smelly, you understand - I’m just quoting the opinion put forward by my nose). Purple cabbage is kinda like white cabbage except purple… and because it’s a pretty colour for cabbage, I don’t shun it.
But the cabbage I use the most is a pointy, tear-drop shaped green cabbage marketed under the name “sweetheart cabbage” in the supermarkets here. That said, I quite like the round green kind too. But sweetheart by name, sweetheart by taste – no, ok, that simile doesn’t work. There’s a good reason I’m not a world-famous writer, I suppose.
Anyway, those are the three types of cabbage available - unless you count the round green cabbage as a different variety from the pointy green one… in which case, the cabbage count goes from three to four. I’m sure that, like potatoes, there are hundreds of different varieties of cabbage, all of which have individual names, again like potatoes. I probably just don’t know about them.
So, coming back to what I do know (a much shorter topic, haha), which is that I love cabbage, what I made with a combination of green and purple cabbage was a luvverly rice dish. With added peas. There's hardly anything that doesn't benefit from the addition of peas, unless it's a cake. Although I bet someone somewhere has tried a green peas cake and written about it on their blog... Ok, I'm off to google for green peas cake now, but you please feel free to read my recipe below and try it out, because it's really, really tasty - especially if you're a cabbage enthusiast like me.
Recipe for: Cabbage and peas rice
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked basmati rice
3 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
a few fresh/frozen curry leaves
Salt to taste
Peanuts and chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
For the masala powder:
1/2 tsp oil
1 htsp urad dal
1 htsp tuvar dal
1 htsp chana dal
1 htsp coriander seeds
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp shredded fresh or dry coconut
Method:
1. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a large pan. 
Fry the masala powder ingredients (bar the coconut) over a low flame till the dals turn a pale golden brown, and the chillies are a shiny dark red. Remove to a plate and let cool.
2. Grind the cooled roasted dals along with the coconut to a fairly smooth powder.
Reserve.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the asafoetida powder, curry leaves and mustard seeds. Cover the pan and let the seeds pop.
4. Now add the shredded cabbage and peas and stir well. 
Cover the pan tightly and let the vegetables cook on a very low heat for about 7 minutes, till the cabbage is cooked but still retains some bite.
5. Once the cabbage is done, add the ground coconut masala powder and salt to taste, and mix well.
6. Then add the rice and mix it in carefully until it is distributed evenly. 
Add the chopped coriander (if using) and scatter the roasted peanuts over. Serve hot with cucumber raita and papad or crisps on the side.
RECIPE: CABBAGE AND PEAS RICE
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked basmati rice
3 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
a few fresh/frozen curry
Salt to taste
Peanuts and chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
For the masala powder:
1/2 tsp oil
1 htsp urad dal
1 htsp tuvar dal
1 htsp chana dal
1 htsp coriander seeds
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp shredded fresh or dry coconut
Method:
1. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a large pan and fry the masala powder ingredients (bar the coconut) over a low flame till the dals turn a pale golden brown, and the chillies are a shiny dark red. Remove to a plate and let cool.
2. Grind the cooled roasted dals along with the coconut to a fairly smooth powder. Reserve.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the asafoetida powder, curry leaves and mustard seeds. Cover the pan and let the seeds pop.
4. Now add the shredded cabbage and peas and stir well. Cover the pan tightly and let the vegetables cook on a very low heat for about 7 minutes, till the cabbage is cooked but still retains some bite.
5. Once the cabbage is done, add the ground coconut masala powder and salt to taste, and mix well.
6. Then add the rice and mix it in carefully until it is distributed evenly. Add the chopped coriander (if using) and scatter the roasted peanuts over. Serve hot with cucumber raita.
I guess I could have called this a vattha kuzhambu except for the fact that I carefully refrained from using manthakkali or chundakkai vatthal (dried berries). This puli kuzhambu tastes very nice, if you ask me. If, however, you DON'T want to ask me, I guess you'll have to make it and discover this fact for yourself, won't you?
Recipe for: Flaxseed puli kuzhambu (tamarind gravy)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp dry-roasted flaxseeds
1 htbsp sambar powder
2 tsp rice flour
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
Lime-sized amount of tamarind/2 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp tuvar dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp vendhayam/fenugreek seeds
5-6 fresh/frozen curry leaves
1 tbsp gingelly oil/nallennai
Salt to taste
4-5 cups water
Method:
1. Pound or grind the flaxseeds to a fine powder.
2. Dissolve the tamarind in 4 cups water (or extract the pulp from the dry tamarind). Reserve.
3. Heat the oil in a pan, add the asafoetida powder, tuvar dal, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, and mustard seeds. Cover and let the seeds pop, let the dal turn golden brown,
then pour in the tamarind water.
Let this come to a brisk boil.
4. While it is coming up to the boil, mix together the flaxseed powder, sambar powder and rice flour,
add 1/4 cup water and whisk to a pourable mixture without lumps.
5. Now pour this into the tamarind water and stir it in, along with salt to taste.
6. Keep the heat on medium and let the kuzhambu simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavours come together, and for it to thicken. Then add the peanuts and allow the kuzhambu to boil for 5 minutes more.
7. The longer the kuzhambu sits, the better it will taste. Reheat before serving, along with steamed rice and any kootu or vegetable curry.
RECIPE: FLAXSEED PEANUT PULI KUZHAMBU (TAMARIND GRAVY)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp dry-roasted flaxseeds
1 htbsp sambar powder
2 tsp rice flour
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
Lime-sized amount of tamarind/2 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp tuvar dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp vendhayam/fenugreek seeds
5-6 fresh/frozen curry leaves
1 tbsp gingelly oil/nallennai
Salt to taste
4-5 cups water
Method:
1. Pound or grind the flaxseeds to a fine powder.
2. Dissolve the tamarind in 4 cups water (or extract the pulp from the dry tamarind). Reserve.
3. Heat the oil in a pan, add the asafoetida powder, tuvar dal, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, and mustard seeds. Cover and let the seeds pop, let the dal turn golden brown, then pour in the tamarind water. Let this come to a brisk boil.
4. While it is coming up to the boil, mix together the flaxseed powder, sambar powder and rice flour, add 1/4 cup water and whisk to a pourable mixture without lumps.
5. Now pour this into the tamarind water and stir it in, along with salt to taste.
6. Keep the heat on medium and let the kuzhambu simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavours come together, and for it to thicken. Then add the peanuts and allow the kuzhambu to boil for 5 minutes more.
7. The longer the kuzhambu sits, the better it will taste. Reheat before serving, along with steamed rice and any kootu or vegetable curry.
Occasionally I buy a bag of “monkey nuts” from the supermarket, because I love me some boiled goobers, I do. Aren’t both those weird terms for peanuts? Monkey nuts are sort of descriptive, therefore understandable - but goobers? I wonder who was the first person who picked up a bunch of the infinity-shaped shells, broke ‘em, took out the red nuts inside and thought “Oh yeah, I know those things! They’re goobers!”
The more you say the "goobers", the more absurd it sounds. But the more absurd it sounds, the more I want to say it, simply because it’s absurd. Eventually I have to stop, though, because people tend to look at me strangely and cross to the other side of the road. I don’t understand why they do that. And when I follow them to explain that I’m merely getting some harmless amusement out of a weird word, they walk away even faster. Strange phenomenon, that...
Anyway, I usually pressure-cook the unshelled peanuts. You can put them in salted water to cook them, but I mostly don’t bother because I like the natural taste of the cooked peanuts hot from the shells. They still taste good when they cool down, don’t get me wrong. I like adding the cold peanuts to salads for texture and protein.
For a change, I made dal with the boiled peanuts. I usually pressure-cook the raw peanuts along with the dal if I’m using tuvar or masoor, where it doesn’t matter if the longer cooking time mushes up the dal entirely. But if chana dal features in the recipe, the peanuts stay separate. Since I’ve used a mixture of masoor and chana dal in this recipe, I cooked the peanuts separately. The reason is that the peanuts take longer to cook than the dals. I like the masoor dal cooked to shapelessness and the chana dal to retain its shape, and putting the two together in a pressure cooker for 3 quick whistles cooks them both just the way I like them. Peanuts don’t figure in this equation, so they get cooked separately.
Now, if we’re all unanimous that I have belaboured that point quite thoroughly, I will move on to the recipe.
Recipe for: Boiled peanut dal
Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanuts, boiled
1/2 cup masoor dal
1/4 cup chana dal
2 small onions, sliced thin
3-4 green chillies (or to taste), sliced in thin strips
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes, mashed
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala/Kitchen King masala
3 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
1. Heat the oil and add the ginger-garlic paste and green chillies. Fry this for 30 seconds, then add the cumin and coriander powder along with the sliced onions.
2. Fry the onions till they start turning soft and translucent. Now add the roasted tomatoes and mash it all with a spatula.
3. Stir-fry the masala for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the boiled peanuts.
4. Add the cooked dals and mix well. Add 1/3 cup water if the dal seems too thick.
5. Stir well once again, add salt to taste, and bring the dal to a gentle boil on medium heat.
6. Now sprinkle the garam masala, turn the heat to low and let the dal simmer for 6-7 minutes.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or rotis.
RECIPE: BOILED PEANUT DAL
Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw peanuts
1/2 cup masoor dal
1/4 cup chana dal
2 small onions, sliced thin
3-4 green chillies (or to taste), sliced in thin strips
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes, mashed
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala/Kitchen King masala
3 tsp oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
1. Heat the oil and add the ginger-garlic paste and green chillies. Fry this for 30 seconds, then add the cumin and coriander powder along with the sliced onions.
2. Fry the onions till they start turning soft and translucent. Now add the roasted tomatoes and mash it all with a spatula.
3. Stir-fry the masala for 2-3 minutes, then stir in the boiled peanuts.
4. Add the cooked dals and mix well. Add 1/3 cup water if the dal seems too thick.
5. Stir well once again, add salt to taste, and bring the dal to a gentle boil on medium heat.
6. Now sprinkle the garam masala, turn the heat to low and let the dal simmer for 6-7 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or rotis.
I'm not going to say this is an original idea, but - for me at least - it was inspired by the "keerai-kuzhambu" that happened fairly often when we were growing up. It was a generic name for a new dish born of the marriage of leftovers (basically, keerai (spinach) and whatever kuzhambu had been made - usually sambar or vetral kuzhambu) and served with pazhaya sadam (old cooked rice soaked in water overnight and made up the next day into a loose mix with buttermilk), or with dosas or idlis - but never with fresh rice, I guess we kids didn't think it deserved that accolade!
I've merely reprised the role of keerai-kuzhambu, as it were, by using vendhaya keerai (methi/fenugreek greens) instead of regular, to make fresh sambar. However, that didn't stop me from eating the sambar with curd rice.
Recipe for: Vendhaya keerai (fenugreek greens) sambar
Ingredients:
1/2 cup toor/tuvar dal
2 green chillies, slit (optional)
Fresh methi (fenugreek greens), leaves and tender stems chopped finely
5-6 shallots, sliced thin
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium tomato, chopped
1.5 tsp tamarind paste dissolved in 4 cups water
2 tsp oil
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
1 small sprig curry leaves (6-10 leaves)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
2 tsp sambar powder
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
1. Pressure-cook the tur/tuvar dal 1.25 cups water, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and two slit green chillies. Remove the green chillies after the dal is cooked, and mash the dal smooth.
2. Heat the oil in a deep-sided pan and add the curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin powder and asafoetida powder. Cover and let the mustard seeds pop.
3. Once the mustard seeds have popped, add the sliced shallots and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat till the shallots start to soften.
4. Add the chopped tomato and let it cook till it begins to turn mushy.
5. Now add the chopped vendhaya keerai (fenugreek greens) and stir till it's well mixed with the contents of the pan. Let it cook on med-low heat till completely wilted.
6. Now pour in the tamarind water and bring it to a brisk boil.
7. Once the water is boiling, add the sambar powder and mix it in.
Let this boil for 10-15 minutes, then add the cooked tur/tuvar dal along with the rice flour dissolved in 4-5 tbsp water. Add salt to taste, bring the sambar back to the boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
8. Sprinkle the chopped coriander and serve hot over plain rice, or as a side dish with curd rice.
This is the recipe which changed my mind about the tasteworthiness of flaxseeds/linseeds and convinced me that these seeds have a permanent place in my kitchen.
I understand these seeds are chemically stable in seed form and keep well without going rancid, but flaxseed oil goes rancid quickly. What I don't know, however, is how long they keep after being roasted and powdered. But I figure that if you make this podi (powder) in small batches, it should get around any potential problems of rancidity.
Oh, and a cautionary note on the pack of flax seeds I bought: Please ensure that you drink at least 150ml water extra per tbsp of flax seeds you consume, as they can cause constipation (especially if you don't normally drink plenty of water in the course of your day, I guess). I should think, however, that if you use a tbsp - or even two - of the paruppu podi with rice for a single portion, the flax seeds should not interfere with the digestion because of the other ingredients that also go to make up the powder.
Try this podi mixed with hot cooked rice and a dollop of ghee... ahhh, heaven!
Recipe for: Flax seed/linseed paruppu podi
Ingredients:
1/4 cup tur dal
1/8 cup urad dal
1/8 cup chana dal
1/8 cup golden flax seeds
5-6 dried red chillies
3/4 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
10 fresh or frozen curry leaves
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
Salt to taste
1. Dry roast the chana dal and tuvar dal together with the dried red chillies till they turn aromatic and pale golden brown and the red chillies are a darker shade.
2. Dry roast the urad dal, golden flax seeds, black pepper corns, curry leaves and cumin seeds till the seeds are golden brown and the curry leaves are crisp
3. Let all the dals and seeds cool completely, then grind to a powder that is the texture of fine sand. Add salt to taste and mix well. Store in a clean dry jar.
This is getting to be a repetitive sort of beginning to my posts, but I’ll say it anyway – beetroot was not among my favourite vegetables, growing up. I don’t remember if my dad was fond of this vegetable, but I’m pretty certain that my sister and brother would not have countenanced it, same as me. We were – regrettably - very alike in food preferences as children, in the process probably depriving my mother of produce that she liked but couldn’t eat at home – because let’s face it, when you have to cook, day in and day out for an entire family, it’s easier to go with the majority flow than deal with the said family’s collective groans and moans when faced with unpopular vegetables.
In her place I would probably have cooked my favourite items and let everyone else fuss unnoticed in the background – or even in the foreground. But my mother was (and is) much more in touch with her selfless side and she mostly avoided the things that the rest of us wouldn’t eat. Coordinating everybody’s likes and dislikes every single day, at least twice a day, must have been a painful, thankless job, one I would have hated doing. Even now, when I actually like being in the kitchen.
Anyway... where was I? Oh yes, beetroot. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve ventured out of my comfort food zone and tried things that I had disliked for the most part of my life. Pickled beets, beetroot dry curry, beetroot halwa even... I can and do eat all those now. I even cook beetroot at home, braving bright red-stained hands and red-stained cutting mats and sometimes utensils – and the occasional permanently-red-stained article of clothing (and, also, the shock during ablutions the next morning. There have been a few times that I’ve nearly called for an ambulance, only just remembering the previous day’s beetroot ingestion in time to save myself the embarrassment of public stupidity.)
So, a friendly reminder to the occasional beet eaters – remember, you are not bleeding to death from the inside, it’s just the beets doing their thing. (I shall abstain from further elaboration on this point to protect the delicate sensibilities of any readers... but if you eat beets, you will know what I mean!)
Back to what I made with beets this time – sambar! It was surprisingly tasty... vaguely sweet from the beetroot, tangy from the tamarind and spicy because of the red chilli powder with which I boosted the heat quotient, because I was afraid the sambar would otherwise end up actually sweet (ugh).
The jewel-like magenta hue of the sambar was an added bonus for my colour-lovin’ soul.
I ate the sambar over rice (well, what else) paired with spicy bittergourd curry, which added yet another dimension to the taste explosion. All’s to love here, that’s what I say.
Recipe for: Beetroot sambar
Ingredients:
3/4 cup tuvar/tur dal
2 medium beetroots, peeled
1 medium onion, minced
2 generous tbsp sambar powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp oil
1 tsp grated ginger root
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp rice flour
3 cups water
6-7 fresh curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
1. Pressure-cook the beetroots and the tuvar dal (in separate containers!). Mash the cooked tuvar dal and reserve. Cut the beetroots into 1/2-cm cubes and reserve.
2. Dissolve the tamarind paste and the rice flour in 3 cups water and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida powder and turmeric powder. Cover and let the seeds pop.
4. Add the chopped onion to the pan and and fry it till it begins to turn soft,
then add the sambar powder and red chilli powder and saute on medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring often. Do not let it burn.
5. Now add the cooked cubed beetroot and stir it well into the masala
then add the tamarind water.
6. Let this come to a boil, then simmer it for 10 minutes or so to let the tamarind blend with the masala.
7. Add 1/4 cup hot water to the cooked tuvar dal and whisk it in to remove any lumps, then add it to the liquid in the pan. Add salt to taste, then stir it all till well blended again.
8. Let the sambar simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it sit for covered for 15-30 minutes. Just before serving, heat the sambar thoroughly and sprinkle coriander leaves.
Serve hot with steamed rice and any dry curry, with poppadoms or crisps on the side (optional).
I’m feeling quite thrilled that one of my favourite South Indian snacks – paruppu vadai (deep-fried, naturally) – has had its guns spiked, its unhealthy nature nullified, its threat to arteries and veins neutralised, and so on. You get the idea. In other words, it is now actually...
Wait, this is a momentous occasion, so everybody please take a deeeeeeeeeeeep breath before reading further.
Got a good lungful or two of that airy stuff? Excellent. I shall now continue.
In other words, paruppu vadai is now... Good For You, or actually even Better For You. And there's still more. Not only is it Better For You, it is also...
Hang on - are you all still holding your breath? You are? Okay. Good.
So, to get back to what I was saying – not only is it Better For You, it is also Extremely Tasty!
How about that? Huh? Huh? Is that good news or is that Good News?
The thing is, although this is a discovery I made the other day, it is not an original discovery. This healthified snack is not new to at least one other food blogger, because it is SHE, the Taste Tinkerer,
who modified the deep-fried tastiness of this classic to a baked one... while retaining all the tastiness.
Things just do not get better than this in the world of foodies like me.
And with that, I take you on to the recipe, which I modified ever so slightly because the original asked for flax seeds, which I didn’t have; and I also used two kinds of dal because I had them, and I could.
On with the recipe...
Waitaminit - gosh, y’all are surely not still waiting to exhale? Awwww.... you may draw breath now!
Recipe for: Baked paruppu vadai
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chana dal
1/2 cup tuvar dal
1 small red onion
4-5 green chillies
1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated
6-7 curry leaves, torn to small pieces
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp crushed roasted peanuts
1/2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Soak the chana dal and the tuvar dal in warm water for 20-30 minutes.
2. Mince the onion, slice the green chillies finely and grate the ginger.
3. Drain the water from the dals and coarsely grind with chopped chillies, grated ginger and minced red onion.
Add only enough water to make the processor run, and make a paste that is fairly coarse.
4. Mix in the salt to taste, baking powder, crushed peanuts and curry leaves.
5. Spray a cupcake tin with non-stick spray and spoon the mixture into the cavities, making them level with the top.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes in a 180C oven, turning the tray around after 15 minutes.
Let the vadai bake till the tops are golden brown. Remove the tray from the oven.
7. Let cool in the tray for 10 minutes before removing the vadais.
Serve with coconut chutney, ketchup or plain.
This has been possibly one of the tastiest dals I've made - and I'm not sure what gave it that extra oomph. I'm aware this is not the most inspiring of things for any cook to say... I mean, if a cook doesnt know what makes his/her recipe a hit, who would?
Still, as I said - no idea what made the dal stand out, especially as the ingredients used were (are) absolutely standard. All I can think of is that perhaps it was the sorrel, as freshly harvested as any greens could get, that made the difference. I got the leaves from my container garden two minutes before I used them. I also had a cupful of water left over from cooking green beans for Pete, so I added that to the dal instead of plain water - but I cant see that it would have made much difference. Bean cooking water is just bean cooking water, not a flavour developer. Right?
I've always thought that sorrel was the English name for gongura, the sour greens so typically used in Andhra cooking. Since I havent actually seen gongura (except in the finished dish made by someone else!) or cooked with it before, I just assumed my sorrel was gongura. Only, my mother said it couldnt be gongura because the leaves werent the right shape (this was when they were just beginning to grow).
True enough, the leaves were broad and flat rather than narrow and tapered... but they were sour. Not mouth-puckeringly so, but with a pleasant sort of sourness, rather like tamarind leaves. Since they were green and sour, I christened them gongura, and made the dal that I've been hankering after ever since I had it first at a friend's place, many many MANY moons ago. Dont anybody tell me it's not gongura... because my response will only be this: "It's a different KIND of gongura, so there."
So there.
Recipe for: Sorrel dal
Ingredients:
1 cup tur dal, cooked
2 cups gongura leaves, washed and sliced
1 medium onion, minced
1 tsp ginger, grated
3-4 fresh green chillies (or to taste), sliced very thin
2 tsp oil
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ghee
1-2 dry red chillies
Salt to taste
1-1/2 cups water
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, cover and let them pop. Then add the ginger, green chillies and coriander powder and fry for 30 seconds or so.
2. Throw in the onions and saute them till they begin to soften and become pale brown.
3. Now add the sorrel leaves and stir till they begin to wilt.
4. Pour in the water
and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.
5. Then add the cooked tur dal and salt to taste, and stir.
Let the dal come to a gentle bubbling simmer.
6. In the meanwhile, heat 1 tsp ghee in a small pan. Break the dry red chillies in two or three pieces and add them to the ghee. Then add the cumin seeds and let them fry for 30 seconds till fragrant and brown.
Pour this tempering on the dal and mix.
Serve hot over rice or with chapaties.
