Black lentil soup

A bowl of home cooked dal or lentils topped with generous amount of ghee or butter and juice of lemon can be so comforting and nourishing after a hard day's work. I love to  to cook all kinds of lentils as soups or dal. It can be eaten just plain boiled with rice or you can make it as elaborate as you like it, by adding whole spices and vegetables or tempering it with onions, garlic etc.. Left overs can be used to make a dough for rotis or paratha. One of my favorite lentils are the whole black lentils or kali masoor.

Ingredient

1 cup whole masoor dal

1 small onion

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 bay leaf
2-3 black cardamom

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1 tomato chopped

1 tsp garam masala (optional)

1 Lemon (juiced)

1 tsp cumin seeds

Ghee or butter to cook

Method

Boil the dal with carrots, turmeric powder, half the ginger garlic paste and bay leaf. I pressure cook the dal giving it about three whistles. It should be cooked but not too mushy. In a separate pan heat some ghee and add the cumin seeds and black cardamon. Add the onions and cook for about 3-5 minutes till  the onions turn golden brown. Now mix in the rest of the ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, garam masala, red chilli powder and salt. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes. Now pour the dal over it and bring it to a boil once again. Taste for seasoning and add the lemon juice. Serve as soup topped with a little butter or it can be eaten the traditional way with rice or roti.