Moong & Spring Onion Dal: Bit of Sunshine for Winter Days

Moong & Spring Onion Dal

Yes Saar, you, remember we meet everyday, and almost every working hour in office? Yes, you, the one who comes to my office without any particular reason and talk and talk and keep on talking when I am trying hard to debug the code. Oh! You think it is simple task to find this error among thirty thousand lines do you? Don’t you think it’s high time you went back to your office and did some constructive work or would you rather prefer me to cut your tongue off and gift warp it and give it to you for Christmas?

And you Miss the one on telephone from last one hour. I know you had fun last weekend with your new boy friend but I am not interested in knowing the details. I don’t think other people want to know about your new pink silk bed sheet. Would you like to hear me talking loudly about that ugly yellow skirt you are wearing with my friend on phone? No? I didn’t think so. So why don’t you shut up or use your cell phone and just walk out of the office? The main door is just 5 feet from your desk you see!

And you Mr & Mrs. Neighbours, would you kindly reduce the volume of your new home theatre system. I know that it’s all nice and all but I don’t think heavy metal music at 2 in the morning is my cup of tea. And I don’t think you will like the rocket I want to fit into your system which will hit the roof and reach sky within a blink of your eyes. Would you?

And you Madam, yeah, we met near office cafeteria today afternoon. Yes, you, the one with dark glasses. Didn’t you notice it is winter and it was cloudy and dark outside? I don’t think you are blind because I have seen you many a times without your cool shades. Do you think energy saving lights is too harsh for your eyes? No? Oh! That is your new Gucci shades, is it? I know they are expensive and but it is absolutely fine to remove them when you are inside office building. That doesn’t mean you have to wear them on your head when we all know you will be here till evening. Do I mind? Actually no, but I feel it’s rather uncool to wear cool Gucci shades inside your office building.

And you my dear friend, yes I am talking to you, who took her 2 year old to see this awful horror movie. Did you say you have kept your brain locked safely in locker? I thought as much. Any lady with little sense wouldn’t take her kid to these movies and later complain about her kid screaming and wetting his bed at night. And stop bothering me with the details. No, I am not against kids. In fact I adore them. But I would rather prefer to watch Cars, Shreak and Kung Fu Panda with my niece and nephew and scream with them in delight than be a reason for their sleepless nights. So shut up and please grow up!!!

Ufff… I am done for the day! At least for now… I had a rough day and needed something to cheer me and lift my mood. Every time its comfort foods that keep me sane and going during days like this. And yesterday it was simple Moong & Spring Onion Dal which boosted my energy and brought back smile on my face. I wanted to fix something with sorry looking, wilted bunch of spring onions in my veggie rack and wanted to cook something that will take just few minutes in kitchen. Dal is something that I like to have either with Rice or Chapatti and Pickle or simply served as soup. This time I chose Moong Dal because it is light and easy on stomach and cooks very fast. I could feel day’s stress slowly fading away while chopping the vegetables for Dal and the aroma of roasted spices lifted my spirit. By the time I finished preparing this Dal and tasted a spoonful of it, I was smiling. What more a person wants for cold, winter days… A bowl full of sunshine… A bowl full of comfort… And a Bowl full of happiness…

Cooked Moong Dal & Spring Onions

Print This Recipe

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Moong & Spring Onion Dal (Indian Soup of Split Green Lentils and Spring Onion)

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Serves: 4-6

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Ingredients:
1 cup Moong Dal/split Yellow Lentils
4-6 Spring Onions, thinly sliced (Keep the green part separate from the white ones)
2 medium Tomatoes, finely chopped
2-3 large Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
1 inch Ginger, finely chopped or grated
2-3 Green Chillies, slit
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ - 1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Jaggery/Sugar (Optional but recommended)
½ medium Lime Juice (Adjust acc to taste)
2 tbsp fresh Coriander Leaves, chopped finely
Salt to taste

For Tadka/Tempering:
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Kalonji/Nigella Seeds (Optional)
Few Methi/Fenugreek Seeds (Optional)
¼ tsp Hing/Asafoetida
1-2 Dry Red Chillies, halved
Few Curry Leaves
½ tbsp Ghee/Oil

Moong & Spring Onion Dal

Method:

Add turmeric powder, a drop of oil and 2 cups of water to washed moong dal and cook till the lentils are cooked though without loosing their shape, about 10-15 mins.
Mean while, chop all the vegetables and keep them aside. Heat oil or ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, fenugreek seeds, halved dry red chillies, hing and curry leaves. Sauté for a minute till the spices turn golden brown and aromatic.
Next add finely chopped garlic and slit green chillies and sauté for half a minute. Mix in white parts of spring onions along with chopped ginger and sauté till onions becomes translucent, about 1-2 mins.
Add garam masala and chopped tomatoes and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes till tomatoes turn pulpy. At this stage add cooked moong dal, jaggery and salt to taste. Pour 1- 1½ cups of water and simmer the dal. Let it cook for another 10-15 minutes so that all the flavours blend well.
Mix in lime juice and greens of spring onion and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes. Switch off the flame and add finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve it hot as a soup or along steam cooked Rice or any Indian bread and enjoy.