4-5fresh curry leaves or 1 teaspoon crushed dried curry leaves
2dry kokum pieces
1teaspooncumin/ jeera
½teaspoonmustard seeds /rai
2teaspoonbrown sugar / white sugar / grated jaggery
1teaspoonred chilly powderadjust to your spice level
¼teaspoonturmeric / haldi
1teaspoondhaniya powderoptional
Salt to taste.
Instructions
Wash toor dal 3-4 times with water until the water appears clear . Now add 1 cup of water to the dal and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.
Pressure cook dal on medium for 4 whistles.
Let the cooker cool down on its own . Do Not force open the pressure cooker . It will take 10 -15 minutes to cool down
Meanwhile while dal is cooking in the pressure cooker , lets start making the tadka for the dal.
Gather all your spices and ¼ cup of water beforehand to avoid burning the tadka. The reason being once you start with the procedure you hav to act quickly.
Heat ghee in a pot you intent to cook the dal in .
Once the ghee is hot enough add mustard seeds , cumin seeds . Once they start to splutter add curry leaves , fresh chillies , red chilly powder, turmeric and dhaniya powder and immediately add a ¼ cup water to it.
Your tadka is ready .
Now keep aside 2 tablespoon tadka in a bowl for re adding it before serving .
Now add kokum , sugar and some salt to the pot and remaining ¾ cups water , cover it and let it simmer for 10 minutes on medium low heat.
By now the cooker should have completely cooled down . Carefully open it and take out the dal . Roughly mash the dal with a spoon or a whipper and add it carefully to the tadka pot .
Cook the dal for 10 more minutes. Add more water if desired as dal intends to thicken up after cooling.
Taste test . Adjust seasonings if needed.
Drizzle the spare tadka on the top again just before serving .
You can add chopped fresh coriander if desired .
Notes
This is medium spicy dal . Adjust spices to your comfort level. If you don't have kokum , just squeeze in so lemon juice at the end.