Masoor Dal Amti (Masoor Dal Curry) is a delicious & simple Maharashtrian dish combining dal with stir-fried onions. My mom made this amti (Maharashtrian dal curry) a lot when we were growing up. Now I used split & skinned masoor dal for this recipe but you could most certainly use toor dal (split yellow pigeon peas), chana dal (split Bengal gram dal) or even moong dal (yellow split/skinned variety) instead if you prefer.

Whole Indian masoor dal looks like smaller brown lentils but when it’s skinned & split, the dal is actually orange in color and when cooked – it’s yellow!


MASOOR DAL AMTI (Maharashtrian Masoor Dal with Onions)

Ingredients:

1 cup skinned & split masoor dal
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1” piece of ginger, peeled & finely minced
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
3-4 dried red chilies (to taste)
6-8 fresh curry leaves
½ tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of asafetida (hing)
½ tsp turmeric (hing)
salt & pepper, to taste
juice of ½ lime (or lemon)
1 tbsp oil, vegetable or canola
freshly chopped cilantro leaves for garnish

METHOD:

In a medium soup pot on high heat, add about 2½ to 3 cups of water along with the split masoor dal. Bring to a good boil, cover, reduce the heat to simmer and let cook until the dal is tender but not mushy (about 12-15 minutes). Alternatively, you could cook the dal in a pressure cooker if you wish. Set aside until needed.

In a large saucepan on medium high heat, add the oil. When hot, very carefully add the mustard seeds. When the splattering subsides, quickly add the cumin seeds. Then reduce the heat to medium and add the asafetida, dried red chilies and the curry leaves. Now add the onions & sauté until just softened & slightly browned. Next, add the ginger & garlic. Sauté for a few more minutes & then add the tomatoes. Stir-fry until the tomatoes have softened & then add the turmeric, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine all of the ingredients. After about another minute or so, carefully add the cooked masoor dal along with any cooking liquid. If necessary, add a little more water as needed. Now, add the lemon juice & simmer on low for about 4-5 minutes until all the ingredients have come together nicely. Garnish with the freshly chopped cilantro and serve with warm chapatis and fragrant Basmati rice.


VARIATIONS:

Feel free to add your favorite vegetables to the dal such as tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, chayote squash (chow chow), butternut squash, green beans, eggplant, methi (fresh fenugreek leaves), acorn squash, baby spinach, pumpkin...



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