Tita'r Dal
Moong dal cooked with bitter melon and bottle gourd, flavoured with ginger, ghee and coconut
- Cooking time30 minutes
Calorieskcal
This is a wonderful Bengali moong dal recipe for the spring-summer months. It is light, mellow, nutritious, and delicious.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients
Serves
5 servings
- 250 g lau (bottle gourd)
- 50 g korola (bitter gourd)
- 100 g moong dal
- 550 g water (for boiling dal)
- 25 g mustard oil
- 1 pc dried red chilli
- 1 pc bay leaf
- ½ tsp shorshe (mustard seeds)
- ½ tsp methi (fenugreek seeds)
- 40 g grated coconut
- 40 g ginger paste
- 8 g ghee
- 13 g salt
- 30 g sugar
Method
- Wash and rinse the dal thoroughly, and boil until the grains are soft (but still whole).
- Cut korola in rings. Cut lau into 4-cm chunks.
- Transfer lau to a saucepan. Add just the amount of water that is needed to submerge the chunks. Cover and steam for 8 minutes. The lau should be around 90% done, not fully cooked and mushy. Drain and set aside.
- Heat mustard oil in a kadai. Add korola and fry till golden (4 minutes). Set aside.
- Temper the same oil with dried red chilli, bay leaf, mustard seeds, and fenugreek seeds. Once the spices turn aromatic, add grated coconut. Fry till coconut turns light brown (2 minutes).
- Add half of the ginger paste; reserve the other half for later. Fry until it turns slightly golden.
- Add fried korola, and the boiled moong dal. Season with salt and sugar.
- Add boiled lau. Bubble for a few minutes and add the remaining ginger paste.
- Finish with ghee, and serve hot.
