Methi Dal | Lentil & Fenugreek Stew

Methi Dal | Lentils and Fenugreen Stew

You gaaaiz! It has been way too long since I last posted I know! I am deeply apologetic for keeping y’all away from some serious food loving. I hope you’ll missed me because I sure did miss writing and cooking as much as I am used to. It’s been a big change the past few months – We have moved cities and the hubs has changed his job so we spent the last few months kind of moving, setting up, and getting acquainted to the city.

I was lucky to get transferred from my current work so atleast the work front is kind of stable for me. The move is from one big city to another. Though I am from Mumbai, moving back after so many years has been hard, but feels so good. It’s closer to home, closer to the family and just great to be around things that are familiar.

The hubs is having a relatively tougher time since he had been in Delhi for almost over a decade so adjusting to the Bombay life, the traffic, the sea of people and the crammed streets is well, tough to take in. We miss our regular restaurants and food joints in Delhi, but hey, it’s all about new discoveries and new beginnings, right?

Well, now that I am in Mumbai, I would love to explore my Maharashtrian side and maybe cook up a Marathi food storm. Hope you guys don’t mind me mixing it up a little bit?

When we moved here I was so excited about the ingredients and OH MY GOD the seafood. We live in South Bombay so there are docks near where we are at and so much fresh fish. One of these days I would love to do a post just about the fish markets and the amazing variety of great seafood that you can find here.

But today I am doing a simple, easy and very healthy Methi Dal which is essentially a green fenugreek and lentil stew. It is best eaten with some plain or jeera rice or with some nice and hot parathas. It does not take much planning, uses not more than 5-6 ingredients and is so easy to cook! My mom would make this when I’d throw tantrums to have the regular dal as a kid. This was such a great change and so tasty too!!

Ingredients:

3 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 dried red chilli (optional)
pinch of hing / asafoetida
4 clove garlic, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
¼ tsp turmeric / haldi
½ tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
salt to taste
1 bunch methi / fenugreek leaves, finely chopped
2 cups toor dal (split pigeon peas), cooked (I like to pressure cook them for 4 whistles followed by 5 min on low flame. But you can boil if if you don’t have a pressure cooked. Soak the dal for 15-20 min before you boil)
1 cup water, or as required

Method:

Firstly, in a large pan, heat 2-3 tsp oil. Sometimes I even like to cook this in ghee. Feel free to substitute ghee for oil. Add in 1 tsp mustard seeds, pinch of hing allowing to splutter.

Now, add the turmeric, followed by chopped garlic and saute to very light golden. The, go on to add in 1 finely chopped onion and sauté well.

When you see the onion going translucent and then slightly golden brown, add in 1 tomato and cook until it turns soft and mushy.

Once this has all come nicely together, add some red chili powder and salt to taste. Cook with lid on the pan for a 1-2 minutes.

Take the lid off and now add all of the chopped methi / fenugreek leaves. Let the mix cook till the methi leaves shrink. You should expect them to become almost 1/3rd in volume.

One you see the volume shrink, go on and add your cooked toor dal (cooked lentils). Don’t worry if your dal has a bit of water left in, we want the dal to be a soupy consistency and not very thick. See how you like your dal and add some more water if you feel necessary.

Be careful not to overdo the water. Add very small amount at a time to get a sense of what kind of consistency you are wanting to achieve. Cover your pan with a lid and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Now serve this hot with some jeera rice or parathas with a side salad. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Method:

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