Maa di dal

Mother is maa, and to call this punjabi curry " Mother's Lentils" significes the importance of the dish.
This is yet another recipe from my latest favourite book 660 curries from Raghavan Iyer.
If you love Indian cusine , then it is a must have book atleast I think so :-)

And I think this is a wonderful entry for Susan's event My Legume Love Affair - Eighth Helping so I am sending this to her place.

Ingridients.
I cup whole black lentils ( sabud urad)
1/2 cup yellow split peas
6 garlic cloves
2 lengthwise slice giner
4 fresh green chilies
2 bay leaves
2 cinamon sticks
4 green or black cardamom pods
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 cup finley chopped fresh onions.
1 cup crushed tomatoes or toamto sauce or canned ones
2 TSP SALT
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 cup cooked red beans ( I used dried beans and cooked them in thepressure cooker)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp of corriander leaves.

In this book he cooked the lentils in a pot, I just put all the lentils ( soaked overnight) and cooked them in the pressure cooker, together with the minced ginger , garlic and chillies and the cardamom, cinamon and bay leaves.

Add 2 tbsp of the ghee in a pan and when it is hot add the cummin seeds and cook till they sizzle. Add the onions and stir fry untill they are golden brown. 3 to 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium low and add the tomatoes, chillie powder and saly. Simer the sauce , partially covered, stirring occasionaly, untill some of the ghee starts to seperat on the surface. 6 to 10 minutes.
Once the legumes are cooked stir in the sauce the cooked lentils and the cream . Add 1 cup of water if it is too thick, stir once or twiwce.
Cover the pan and simmer over medium heat stirring occasionalyn untill the flavours mingle, 5 to 10 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 2 tbsp of ghee and the corriander leaves and serve.