Toor Dal Amti

My MIL (Mother In Law) prepared this for us during our India trip. Considering I love all kinds of Marathi (or Marathi inspired) dishes, I loved it. I don’t know if it is a authentic Marathi dish, but I am sure you will like it. I usually make amti with goda masala which has become a hit with my family and friends. This has almost similar aroma. She makes it slightly sweetish but when I prepare this, I leave out jaggery. It is a nice change to regular dal.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup toor dal
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup tomato
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1-2 tea spns jaggery
Oil
A pinch turmeric
Salt

For masala:
3-4 cloves
2″ cinnamon
1 tea spn coriander seeds
1/2 tea spn badishep/saunf
1/2 tea spn sesame seeds (til)
3-4 pepper
Oil
2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut
3-4 red chillies

Method:

Cook toor dal with 1/4 cup onion and turmeric in pressure cooker till it is soft.
Heat oil and fry all the spices for masala. Then add coconut and fry till it heats through. Make a paste.

Heat little oil in a pan and add remaining onion. Fry till they are brownish (add little salt while frying onion, salt it helps in breaking down onion faster). Now pour in cooked dal and masala paste. Add tomato. Bring to boil. Add coriander leaves, jaggery and let it boil for few minutes.
Serve hot with rice.

PS : I have tried this both with and without jaggery. I personally loved no-jaggery version. So if you don’t like sweet gravies, leave jaggery out.
I sometimes add a handful of spinach while cooking dal to give extra nutrition.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 25mins