My Comfort Soup ~ Red Masoor Dal

Ok so I have missed all deadlines, couldn’t submit an entry for JFI-Potato and I wanted to send a soup for Alanna, but am too late and have missed that too, almost, unless I really try hard tonight.

To console myself and to make good of the little time I had, I made my all time favorite comfort soup, a dal actually, the Bangali Musuri’r Dal or the Masoor Dal.
This is the Dal we, as in my family, look forward to when we are down, depressed, tired, anxious, worried or hard pressed for time. We make it quick, there’s no way you can lengthen the process anyway, have it with White Rice & Alu Seddho (mashed Potatoes) with green chillies and a quarter of a lemon on the side and bask in it’s warmth slowly forgetting the gloom that had shrouded us and feel content.
If I am in a good mood and do not need all that carb to lift my spirit, I have this Dal as soup and again feel contented.

This Dal is like my husband D, whom I can trust to warm up my car in the cold mornings even though we have fought the night before and googled for “marriage for dummies” earnestly.
This Dal is like my dear friend who lends me a patient ear and hears me bitch about D though I trust her not to believe anything I uttered while in an acerbic mood.
This Dal is like my Ma, whom I can call up at any time of Day or Night to complain about how hard a day I had and how the little one was throwing a tantrum and trust her to say how good little S actualy is and how I threw more tantrums when I was small.
This Dal is like me who lounges in a faded pajama watching inane serials in Sony (yeah we have that now, courtesy my parents) and scrambles at the nth moment to write up a post for an event which is almost over.
This is Comfort personified.

So here’s My Comfort Soup ~ Red Masoor Dal for Alannas’s Soup Fest hosted at her abode A Veggie Venture



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My Comfort Soup ~ Masoor Dal

What You need

Masoor Dal or Split Red Lentils~ 1 cup washed thoroughly
Onion ~ 1 red onion medium sized, sliced in thin long slices
Tomato ~ 1 firm red tomato chopped fine
Green Chilies ~ 2-3 finely chopped

For Tempering
Panch Phoron or Panch Puran (a Bengali Five Spice Mix) ~ 1 and ½ tsp

For Garnish
Lime Juice ~ 4 tsp of fresh lime juice
Corriander Leaves~ 3-4 sprigs

Oil
Salt ~ according to taste
Sugar ~ 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder ~ ½ tsp

How I Did It

Pressure Cook the 1 cup Masur Dal with 2 and ½ cups of water and a pinch of turmeric. Once it is cooked mix it well with a whisk. The time to cook depends on your cooker. I use a Futura which needs 3 minutes after the full steam build up.
Heat oil and add the phoron, or as we say temper with Panch Phoron. You can also use Kalo jeera/Kalonji/Nigella Seds if you do not have Panch Puran
Add the finely sliced onions and fry till they turn pink in color. Add the chopped green chillies.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they become a fine pulp
Add the previously cooked dal.
Mix well.
Add salt, sugar and about 3-4 cups of water. If you feel you need to add more water do so.
Cook till you hear a nice bubbling sound. Remember to stir infrequently during this process.
Also continue cook till the thickness of the dal is according to your liking
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and lime juice

Also check out:
My Alu Posto and Musuri'r Dal
Another post Masoor Dal with BokChoy

Trivia : The optical lens is so named after the lentil (Latin: lens), whose shape it resembles (Source: Wiki)