Pudina Dal Tadka | Mint Dal How to Make Pudina Dal with tips

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This super easy but mouth- watering recipe is made with soft-boiled green gram (PesaraPappu/ Moong Dal) seasoned with mint leaves (Pudina) fried in pure ghee. This Pudina Dal can be eaten with Roti or rice. It is one of those belly- pleasing recipes!

This preparation is ideal for those who do not have the patience for elaborate recipes. If you are looking for some good dish that you can prepare within minutes in a cooker with just two or three whistles, Pudina Dal Tadka is a perfect choice. Mostly any Dal is cooked with Tomato or along with some vegetable. We do not add any Tomato in this recipe. The main seasoning used in this recipe is onions fried in red hot ghee. Telugu people do not add Tamarind to this preparation. They prefer to squeeze in some lemon juice. This Dal preparation is good to eat and leaves a good feeling afterwards. This is a dish you’ll find frequently prepared in our household.

Tips

Dal:

• Green Gram (Pesara Pappu/ Moong Dal) is ideal for this Pudina Dal recipe. If you prefer you may use Tur Dal (Kandi Pappu)

Consistency of the Dal:

• Generally Dal will thicken in consistency when it cools down. So it is better to keep the Moong Dal slightly watery, so that we can prevent it from becoming too thick and pasty after it cools down. If you feel the Dal is too thick, we can add a little water to get the right consistency.

Cooking the Dal:

• In our household we like to boil the Dal till it is soft but we do not like it to become pasty. We prefer the Dal to maintain its shape. So we cook the dal in a vessel by adding water to the ratio of one cup of Dal to two and a half cups of water till the grains will be soft but retain their full shape

Seasoning with Ghee:

• The special aroma for the Pudina Dal is achieved when the Ghee seasoning is done well.

Pudina:

• Be careful to use only the leaves. The stalks should be never used. The stalks do not get soft even after frying in the seasoning stage.

Lemon Juice:

• The ultimate taste of the Pudina Dal dish depends upon the lemon juice that is added at the very end. It tastes much better than tamarind juice. A few more tips:

• I have not used tomato at all. However, if you like, add finely chopped tomato to the seasoning. Let the tomato soften very nicely before mixing the seasoning into the Dal.

• It is better if the onion is roughly chopped rather than fine.

• I have used dry chilli powder. You can substitute this with green Chillies. Add it when the seasoning is frying, or else, boil the Chillies along with the Dal at the very beginning.