This is something my Mom prepares almost every Monday, as we are supposed eat 'Satwik' food on that day of the week. Well, as a kid I used to hate it (because of lack of spices in it), but as I grew up and went out to stay in hostel for studying.. I started missing it.

And then when I started working and took my own apartment, I prepared it and made my non-oriya friends have it with rice, they loved it. So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Moong dal - 200 gms
2. Vegetable of your choice (preferably drumstick, plantain, potato, beans, pumpkin etc)- 250 gms
3. Tomato - 1 medium
4. Cumin seeds - 3 teaspoons
5. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
6. Ginger- 1 inch
7. Dry red chillies- 4/5
8. Ghee - for garnish
9. Turmeric - 1 teaspoon
10.Salt - to taste

Preparation:

• Roast moong dal in a wide pan, stir continuously so that it does not get burnt. Roast till it is light brown. Soak it in water for sometime(5-10 mins).
• Wash and cut the vegetables into 1 cm cubes, cut the tomato into half. Pressure cook* the dal and vegetables adding some salt and turmeric, (also the half cut tomato).
• Meanwhile roast 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds and 3-4 red chillies, grind them to a coarse powder and keep aside.
• Once the dal and vegetables are cooked (let it cook in the steam in the pressure cooker for sometime, after turning the heat off), open the pressure cooker and keep aside the two halfs of tomatos in a bowl.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add cumin and mustard seeds, one red chilly. Once the seeds start spluttering, add minced ginger (optional: finely chopped onion can also be added) and fry it for couple of minutes. Put the boiled tomato, and fry it for about 5 minutes.
• Now the bolied dal and vegetables can be added, into it. Once the dal comes to boil, add the cumin and chilli powder, cover it and let it cook for another 10 minutes in medium heat.
• Serve it hot with rice.

*Instead of pressure cooking, the dal and vegetables can be microwaved also.