Doing it for some dal?

January 6, 2015 9:51 AM

I have some moong dal and some channa dal I need to use up. I don't have a lot of spices. Got any easy, tasty recipe suggestions?

I have about a cup of moong dal and about two cups of channa dal that I bought for some ambitious recipes I now realize I'll never make.

I do have cumin and turmeric; I do not have garam masala or asafetida.

Do you have any easy, flavorful ways I can use up one or both of these dals?

(I have seen this old moong dal question but was hoping for a few more options, especially for the channa dal.)

Thanks!

posted by kristi to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

Sprout the moong dal. Just keep it fully submerged in water (changing the water every day) until sprouts form. Then drain, fry on high heat with some salt, and eat with a squeeze of lemon juice. Also really good with diced raw tomatoes and onions.
posted by neematoad at 9:59 AM on January 6, 2015 [7 favorites]

well, chana dal is a kind of chickpeas, so maybe you could try to make hummus with them and the cumin and some lemon and garlic and tahini?
posted by steinwald at 10:05 AM on January 6, 2015

A friend just posted an EXCELLENT easy chana masala recipe (basically, saute some onions in ghee, toss in the chickpeas, toss in a bunch of tomatoes, spice with cumin and turmeric and anything else you desire, sautee until the water cooks off). I'd think if you briefly soaked your dal, this treatment would ALSO make it super-tasty!
posted by julthumbscrew at 10:10 AM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

julthumbscrew - where is this recipe?
posted by Brent Parker at 10:28 AM on January 6, 2015

Buttery Moong Dal fits your requirements, mostly that it only uses tumeric and cumin, with the addition of a couple other non-spice ingredients. Channa dal works just fine in this recipe too. I've also blended them together in the same batch, and it turns out great.
posted by furnace.heart at 10:44 AM on January 6, 2015

Brent Parker - my friend just posted a colloquial "toss this in, sautee until it looks like that, add this to taste" recipe, but she said her basic chana masala recipe was an offshoot of Madhur Jaffrey's recipe, which Serious Eats posted here.
posted by julthumbscrew at 11:03 AM on January 6, 2015

This is not an exact match to what you have, but a couple of months ago I was making some dal makhani and threw in a granny smith apple I had laying around because, actually, I had about 2kg laying around and much as I love them, they were not getting munched on fast enough, and I thought, what the hell. It was amazing. I've done it a couple times since then and it's super yummy. If you're looking for something to punch it up, try adding a tasty tart apple to what you make!
posted by sldownard at 11:57 AM on January 6, 2015

Best answer: I would suggest that you try not to worry too much about following a particular recipe. If you google around, you'll find about a million recipes that are basically just some variation of:

1) Soak [chana/moong/toor/etc] dal and cook to desired consistency
2) Cook [tomatoes/onions/ginger/garlic/fresh chili peppers] either with the dal, or separately, adding them to dal at the end
3) Heat oil/ghee in pan, cook [cumin/mustard seed/asafetida/various obscure spices], and pour over dal

Like, I'm the kind of cook who lives and dies by recipes, but even I gave up on dal recipes once I figured out the basic formula. If you love onions, put a lot of onions in. If you're out of garlic but you have ginger, put in some extra ginger. If you have a way you like to cook chana dal, try it next time with moong dal. Or toor dal. Or throw in 1/4 cup of each.

That being said, if you have dry ground ginger, this is a simple and delicious dal that I make a lot.
posted by gueneverey at 12:07 PM on January 6, 2015

Response by poster: These are great - thanks!

Special thanks to hal_c_on and gueneverey for letting me know that I can combine the two kinds of dal without fear.

Thank you!
posted by kristi at 9:59 PM on January 7, 2015

This lentil-miso vegan gravy by Isa Chandra Moskowitz is amazingly good made with chana dal.
posted by Lexica at 7:19 PM on January 10, 2015

I asked my mom:

Soak both dals in water for 2-3 hours then grind with 1" piece fresh ginger, green / red chillies ( as per taste) , some cilantro & water to a thick consistency( like pancake batter). Mix the batter with 2 cups rice flour. Add salt to taste & make dosas on nonstick pan (like pancakes). Can add a tsp of oil while making them. Can eat these with chutney.

Can store this batter in refrigerator for a week.

Or if you don't have to use all of the dals then you can boil the moong dal in water with turmeric till it softens. Then, season with cumin & salt (or green chillies) & eat with rice.
posted by yaymukund at 5:28 PM on January 17, 2015

Response by poster: So, I ended up using the wonderful generic instructions from hal_c_on and gueneverey for the moong dal, which was quite good; then, thanks to steinwald and julthumbscrew pointing out that the channa dal was basically chickpeas, I ended up using them in Mark Bittman's baked falafel recipe, which turned out great.

So now my dals have been made into tasty meals and eaten, and I feel the righteous glow of the frugal Midwesterner who has used up food.

Thank you!
posted by kristi at 2:09 PM on May 9, 2015 [1 favorite]