Radish Leaves Dal

The radish leaves are rich in Vitamin A. The leafy vegetables, particularly, supply a wide variety of nutrients.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Toor Dal
• 2 bunches of Radish Leaves
• 1 small Onion
• 2 Tomatoes
• 5 Baby Carrots
• ½ piece of Green Bell Pepper
• 4 small Green Chilies (or According to taste)
• Some Cilantro leaves
• 1 tbsp Tamarind Paste
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• ¼ tsp Asafetida

For Seasoning:

• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tsp Oil

Preparation:

Wash the toor dal well and pressure-cook it until done. Mean while, wash the radish leaves well and chop into small pieces. Chop the onion, tomatoes, baby carrots, green bell pepper and the green chilies into medium pieces.

In a bowl, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds too and fry for 1 minute. Then add all the chopped veggies along with the radish leaves, fry for some time. Later pour some water on the veggies and let them cook for a while by putting a lid on top. When they are half way done, add the turmeric powder along with the asafetida and the tamarind paste. The tamarind can be substituted with lemon juice.

When the veggies were cooked add the cooked dal, mix well and add salt. Pour some more water if required. The consistency of this dal should be neither too thin nor too thick, but medium. Finally add the cilantro leaves and let the dal stand on the medium flame for a little while. Be careful not to burn the dal.

Serve with hot rice with some deep-fried yogurt chilies (majjiga mirapakayalu) or papads. This dal goes well with chapathis too.

This is my entry to Srivalli’s “MEC: Greens” theme.