When we eat out, it is normally the North Indian food that gets ordered. Naturally the vegetarian gravy is always Paneer Butter Masala no doubt. When there are more vegetarians dining along with me, the other dish that gets the next place will always be the Dal Fry. Dhal Fry complements the spicy paneer Butter Masala and makes a great combo with the vegetarian fried rice too. It’s always very mild but is rightly done in all quarters.

I always wondered why it is called fry, because it is a liquid dish. We tag a fry to be a dry dish. I guess this gets it’s name from the fact that the restaurant chefs have all the things pre-cooked for this dal and just fries it before serving. Of course same goes for all other things, except this dish is more of a sauteing than anything else.

Anyway when the Paneer Butter Masala is as good as the one we order out in restaurant, I wanted to try out this Dal fry. I believe the unique taste here is because of the Masoor dal. I was browsing through my recipe collection and came across this recipe that I must have got from my GDM group and wanted to try it right away. It has the same taste you get in the restaurant and I made it for our Lunch box, paired with Jeera Rice.
 

This is a simple dal that can be served with rice/rotis. Especially with fried rice and Naans.

Dal Fry ~ Restaurant Style

Cooking Time from start to finish: 30 mins.
Serves 4.

Ingredients Needed:

Masoor dal / Red Lentil – 3/4 cup
Yellow Moong dal / Split Green gram – 1/4 cup
Green chillies – 2-3
Grated Ginger – 1 tsp
Garlic, crushed – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
Dry Red chillies – 1-2
Onion  – 1 medium
Tomato – 1 medium
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Chopped Coriander leaves – 3 tbsp
Butter or Cream for topping – 1 tbsp (opt)

Method to prepare:

Wash the dals and pressure cook with water along with ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt and broken green chillies. The dal should be well done and not too watery. If you want you can mash the dal a bit with the back of the ladel

Heat the ghee in a non stick pan, add the cumin seeds and red chilli. Then addd onions and fry till light brown.

Next add the finely chopped tomato and fry for 2 mins. Once this is done add the dals and simmer on medium heat for 5 mins

Finally garnish with coriander and top with cream/butter (optional)

Serve hot with rotis/parathas