My Attempt at Cooking Masoorchi Amti

Day 2,641, 08:02 • Published in India India • by Satya Yuga
Press Director’s Note: This third article for my Senior Journalist mission is being published in eIndia. Given the option between publishing it in eCanada and eIndia, the target audience was obvious.

In my goal to eat healthier, I’ve been experimenting with Sprouted Dal. Sprouted Dal is supposed to be healthier than regular soaked dal due to their being true super foods. They are essentially pre-digested foods as the seeds’ own enzymes do most of the work and are an excellent source of Protein, Fiber and Vitamin B.

For my experiment with sprouting, I chose to use Masoor Dal (split red lentils). Ideally, I would go with whole red lentils, but the split ones were what I was able to find and had read that they were still capable of sprouting.

Sprouted Masoor Dal (stock photo -- my image disappeared)

Now that I had successfully sprouted my Masoor Dal, I needed to make use of them. With that in mind, I hunted down recipes and discovered the following:

Masoorchi Amti

Watching the enclosed video, I saw that the steps were pretty fast-paced as what I was used to, so I made sure to view it multiple times to ingrain it in my ancient brain.

My next goal was the initial preparation of the herbs, spices and basic ingredients.

Cumin Seeds and Curry Leaves

Chopped White Onions

Green Chillies and Crushed Garlic

Diced Roma Tomatoes

Asafoetida, Turmeric, Red Chili Powder, Coriander Powder and Garam Masala

Browned Grated Coconut

Following the directions:

Bring a pot of water with ground turmeric and salt to a boil, add sprouted masoor dal, cover and continue cooking on low heat for 20-30 minutes -- checking the firmness of the dal. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan, once oil is hot, add cumin seeds, curry leaves, chopped onions, salt and cook the onions till they are slightly colored.

Add green chillies -- I used Serrano Peppers for the extra heat, which was probably a mistake as it overwhelmed the flavor of the final dish -- and crushed garlic. Let the garlic brown so that it releases it flavor in the oil.

Add chopped tomatoes, asafoetida (hing), turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and sauté for a minute.

Add a little water, cover and cook the tomatoes and spices for about 3 minutes.

Add boiled masoor, freshly ground coconut paste -- I used Coconut Flour -- mix, cover and cook till it comes to a boil. Add browned grated coconut and mix.

The finished product:

Masoorchi Amti