Radish Daal/Mulyaachi Aamti

This Radish daal is perfect when you want just one fulfilling protein rich meal. You can have this with red/brown rice to increase your nutritional intake. You can freeze the extra daal you make and take it out when you are bored to cook but crave a homely meal.

Here's how you make this vegetarian Ayurvedic dish -

Vegetarian Aaji's thaali

Ingredients

One medium radish peeled and diced into circles/ pieces. 

Two cups moong daal. 

Half teaspoon tamarind paste

One tablespoon Jaggery

Two green chilies finally chopped (go with one if you don't like pungent)

One teaspoon turmeric powder

One and a half teaspoon garam masala

One teaspoon cumin seeds

One teaspoon mustard seeds

One fourth teaspoon asafoetida

Half teaspoon fenugreek Seeds

Chopped coriander for garnish

Ghee/oil for tempering

Salt to taste

Method

Boil the daal and keep aside. 

In a big vessel, add ghee/oil. Once the ghee/oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. 

Turn the heat to low. 

Next add the radish pieces and fry well.  After 8-10 minutes, add turmeric, green chilies and some water (half cup). Cover and allow to cook for 10 minutes. 

After ten minutes check if the radish is semi cooked, then add the moong daal and four cups water. Add jaggery, salt, tamarind and garam masala powder and mix well. 

Allow the daal to boil.

After it's been boiling for 5 minutes, lower the heat and let the daal simmer for ten minutes. 

Squeeze some lime juice and stir well. 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve. 

Variation - In step 2, you can add a small chopped onion and 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic in the tempering along with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves & asafoetida and continue with the remaining steps as explained in the method above. Generally, during fasts, we avoid eating onions and garlic but they add a lot of flavour when added.