Recipe- Lesser Known Moradabadi Dal Chaat

A lesser known recipe from Moradabad, a town from Western Uttar Pradesh India, famous for it’s brass and wooden handicraft. We never lived in Moradabad, but many times dad visited this place for official work. There, in a party (years back) he had this delicious Dal chaat. Dad loved this way of serving Dal and since then it became quite a regular in our house. Moong Dal is a main course item which was is usually served as main course with rice or chapatis. I am sure most of the kids and even grown ups are not very fond of Moong Dal. Many people have it when not feeling well for light dinner.

Ingredients

Moong Dal-- 1Cup
Turmeric Powder-- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Ghee-- 1-2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds-- 1tsp
Red Chili Powder-- 1tsp (or as per spice tolerance)
Whole Red Chili-- 1-2
Asafetida/Hing-- ¼ tsp (for gluten-free version skip it or use gluten-free)
Finely Chopped Onions-- 1cup
Finely Chopped Tomatoes-- 1cup
Finely chopped Green Chili-- as required(optional)
Tamarind Chutney/Lemon juice
Green Chutney(optional)
Papadis/NamakPare – 3-4 per serving

Method

* Traditionally this dal was prepared with slow cooking method in initial days but nowadays people make it in pressure cooker to save time. Though pre-soaked Moong dal takes hardly any time to in open pot also.

* Soak dal for 10-15 minutes, then pressure cook turmeric powder and salt.

* This dal has thick consistency, do not add a lot of water while cooking it. Keep Dal to water ratio as 1:1.5.

* In a pan heat ghee/oil, add cumin seeds. Once seeds crackle, add whole red chili, and red chili powder along with asafoetida if using.

* Add tempering to dal. Close the lid for few minutes so that the flavors of tadka/tempering infuse into dal.

* Divide in small bowls, top with finely chopped onions. tomatoes(optional), green chilies( skip when serving to kids), sweet tamarind chutney.

* You can add green chutney too. Or, can also add lemon juice if not using Tamarind Chutney.

* Top with crushed papadi. You can also use any of your favorite namkeen mixture like sev, aloo bhujiya and serve immediately.