Sunny Yellow Daal Salad (A light nutrtious summer salad)

   Ingredients

  1/2 cup yellow mung daal
  2 tb sps finely chopped onion
  2 tb sps chopped tomato
  Finely chopped ginger (optional)
  chopped corriander and mint leaves
  1/2- 1 green chilly finely chopped
  1/4 t sp haldi/turmeric
  salt to taste
  1/4 t sp red chilli powder
  1/4 t sp whole jeera/ cumin seeds
  A pinch of hing/ asafoteda
  2 t sps ghee or clarified butter/  cooking oil



  Method

• Wash the daal well till the water runs clear,soak it for 15 minutes and drain.
• Add 1 cup of water, haldi and salt and cook in the pressure cooker till high pressure is reached.Switch off the heat and let the pressure reduce on its own. Open the cooker and check if the daal is cooked. Dry out excess water if any.
•  If not using the pressure cooker, cook the daal in 1+3/4th cups of water.Reduce heat when it comes to a boil and cover with a lid leaving slightly open for the steam to escape.Stir after 5 minutes. The daal should be done when the water evaporates.It should have separate grains like boiled rice.
• Put in a flat serving dish and garnish with onions, tomatoes,ginger, corriander, mint and green chilly.
• Heat the ghee/ oil in a tempering pan till smoking. Lower heat, add  whole cumin  and bring to a splutter taking care not to let it burn. Take off the heat and quickly add red chilli powder and hing. Pour all over the garnished daal .
• Serve at room temparature as a salad  or as an accompaniment to vegetables and rotis.

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Note: Another version is to mix olive oil and a few drops of lemmon juice to the cooked  and garnished daal instead of the ghee tempering.