Mixed Lentil Curry

Got this idea from my aunty when I visited her 2 years back, she made mixed lentils with shredded chicken, and served it with nans, it almost tasted like haleem. Another event I remember was my cousins wedding, we were served this delicious combination of mixed lentils along with boiled rice, so I will be sharing both veggie and non- veggie version of this dish in the same recipe and hope you will like it too…

 Ingredients:

100 gm chana dal

100 gm masoor dal

100 gm  mong or mash dal

250- 500 gm boiled and shredded chicken or meat

2 medium onions (thinly sliced)

2 medium tomatoes (finely chopped or make a paste in blender)

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

½ cup yogurt (100ml)

½ - 1 cup oil

2 cups chicken stock

Salt to taste

1 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 large bay leaf

7-8 black pepper corns

3-4 cloves

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1 big black cardamom

¼ tsp garam masala powder

½ tsp coriander powder

Some fresh chopped coriander, chopped green chilies and lemon wedges to garnish

Method:

Mix all the lentils, then wash and soak them for almost 3 hours. In a pan boil the lentils till they are done, turn off the heat let them cool down then blend them coarsely (or you can mash them with back of the spoon or wooden ladle).  Heat oil in a separate pan and add the onions, fry them till they get golden brown color, then add in the cumin seeds, bay leaf, black pepper corns, cloves, cinnamon stick and black cardamom, followed by ginger garlic paste, fry for a minute or two and add in the chopped tomatoes (or blended tomatoes). Now add in the chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and yogurt, fry it well until the tomatoes are almost dissolves (sprinkle some water if you need to in between). Once the masala is done add in the shredded chicken (or meat) fry it for 5 minutes, adding some water if it sticks to the pan, now add in the blended lentils with 2 cups of chicken stock, you can check the seasoning at this point and add more salt and red chili powder if needed, let it cook for 30 minutes on low heat (consistency of dal depends on your own preference). After 30 minutes sprinkle some garam masla and coriander powder, give it a stir and turn of the heat. Garnish with chopped fresh coriander and green chilies and serve hot with roti or boiled rice.

Note: For the vegetarian version follow the same procedure and exclude the chicken pieces and chicken stock, use water in place of chicken stock