Today I have a comforting and delicious Bengali dal. It is a simple preparation made with masoor dal and tomato. Panch phoron, a 5 spice mix adds lot of flavor to this every day lentil dish. Serve it over a bowl of hot steamed rice for a delicious meal.
What is Panch Phoron?
It literally means ‘five spices’ in Bengali. So it is basically a mixture of 5 whole spices:
FenugreekMustardFennelNigella and Cumin seeds
The spice mix can be bought at Indian groceries. But you can easily make it at home by mixing equal quantities of all of the above spices. This is great to have on hand to make delicious Bengali style dishes like this Charchari (mixed vegetable curry) or this Begun-er-tok (sweet and sour eggplant).
How to cook red lentils/ masoor dal:
Red lentils are one of the easiest lentils to cook. They take less than 20 minutes to cook on the stove top and about 5 minutes in an Instant pot or pressure cooker. Here’s how to cook them:
Instant Pot/ Pressure cooker: For ½ cup red lentils, add 1¼ cups water. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes in IP and for 3~4 whistles in a regular pressure cooker.Stove-top method: Combine ½ cup red lentils with 1¾ cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Lower the heat and simmer until lentils are tender and start turning mushy, about 15~20 minutes.
Masoor Dal recipe Bengali style:
So here’s how to make this delicious Bengali masoor dal: Here are a few more Red Lentil recipes that you might enjoy!!
Moroccan Red Lentil SoupNepali Dal BhatEthiopian Lentil Stew
Linking to this month’s BM# 110 and don’t forget to check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today.
