Red Lentils with Cucumbers

Masoor Dal with Cucumbers

Mum's favourite way of preparing red lentils was with onions, tomatoes & garlic. She would sometimes add cucumbers to it, but always peeled them. As a shortcut, I decided to leave them unpeeled and was surprised at how good it tasted. The cucumbers retained their shapes, added a bite and weren't mushy at all.

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils, washed and drained

2 cups water

salt to taste

¼ tsp. turmeric

1 seedless English cucumber (skin on), cubed

2 medium onions, diced

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/4 tsp. panch phoron (Bengali 5 spice)

Salt to taste
1/4 tsp. sugar (optional)

3 green chillies, slit
1 tsp. ghee

Direction

1. Cook lentils in water, salt and turmeric. Set aside.
2. Heat oil & fry nigella seeds until they snap, crackle & pop.
3. Add onions, tomatoes & garlic & sauté until onions turn translucent.
4. Add cucumbers, stir, cover & simmer until cucumbers soften.
5. Pour lentils over cucumbers and bring to a boil.
6. Adjust salt & sugar to taste, garnish with ghee & green chilies and remove from heat.

Serve with hot steamed rice.