Urad Dal……simple, nourishing and absolutely delicious. The Dal is my father’s favorite made simply with a fabulous baghaar of mint, onions, cumin, cilantro and fresh ginger in ghee. The Roti is dough with Bajri, spelt, rye and whole wheat flour. Heavenly!

Urad dal, also known as white lentil or black lentil is  grown in the southern parts of Asia. This particular type is a split and washed Urad dal which is white. Rich with Protein and Vitamin B, it also has iron, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, potassium

The recipe is extremely simple and it very little time to cook. The trick is to add just about enough water for the lentils to stay dry after cooked.

Here is what you need:

2 cups of white urad 

2 inched of fresh ginger

2 whole red chillies

2 greens chillies

1 tbsp dry mint

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 cloves of garlic sliced

1 medium onion thinly sliced

fresh month and coriander

2 tbsp olive oil with 1 tsp of ghee

salt to taste

Soak the dal for 2-4 hours, drain and cook with about 1 1/2 inches of water, salt, an inch of ginger and 1 red chili. Boil until soft and watch closely so it does not stick. If there is excess water, you can drain so the dal stays dry.

Put the cooked dal in a serving dish and prepare the baghaar (tempering).

Heat oil in a pan and add onions and 1 whole red chili, once the onions begin to get barely brown, add garlic, cumin, green slices chillies. Then add dry mint for just 30 seconds.

Pout the baghaar over the dal and tope with cilantro, thin slices of ginger and fresh month.

Serve with fresh bajri/spelt roti.