Broccoli with Lentils

I used to hate broccoli with a vengeance. For a long period I couldn't understand how people could eat it. Like a lot of things related to food, I made a total about turn on this one too. I've come to like it and have been trying to incorporate it into our diet as much as possible. Apart from steaming it, I tried cooking it with moong dal and it turned out really well. It is a pretty generic recipe that we use, to cook a lot of green, leafy vegetables. I use this for spinach, tomatoes etc. except that I use toor dal for all of those. I don't use moong dal that much at all and I wanted to try and use a variety of dals. Like most dals, it tastes best when eaten fresh and hot, so I usually cook only small quantities of this. This is in contrast to tomato dal made with toor dal, which I make in large quantities, to last a few days.





Ingredients:

Broccoli, cut into florets - Half a head
Moong dal - 1 cup
Green chillies, chopped - 2-3
Tamarind extract - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Red chili powder - 1tsp
Water - 2 cups

For tempering:
Garlic cloves, chopped into halves - 2
Dried red chilies, broken into halves - 2
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds -1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Place the moong dal in a container that can be placed inside a pressure cooker. Add water. Add broccoli, green chilies on top. Sprinkle the red chili powder. Place the container in the pressure cooker and cook for three whistles. Let cool.
2. Seperate or gently push the broccoli florets aside after taking the container out from the pressure cooker. Mash the lentils. Then stir in broccoli, salt, tamarind extract gently, so as not to mash the broccoli.
3. In a sauce pan, heat oil. Add the garlic cloves. Saute for a couple of minutes until they are browned. Add the rest of the tempering ingredients one after the other. When they begin to splutter, add the broccoli - dal mixture. Cover with a lid and let simmer for about 5 minutes until the flavors meld. Serve hot with rice or roti.