Lentil Chicken

Sorry to any regular followers, for not posting for some time. I have been busy travelling and tasting yummy foods. Recently experimented a variant of Dhansak..... lets call it urad-chicken or lentil chicken.I tried cooking chicken with various lentils, but it comes out best with white split urad dal (matpe beans). A very quick, easy, nutrious recipe and very appealing to the taste buds too.

Ingredients--
White urad dal- 1 cup, washed and soaked for atleast 1/2 hour.
2 chicken breasts cut to bite size pieces.
1 medium onion diced
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp
1 tsp each of cumin powder, corriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala.
Oil spray -1 noozle.
2 cardamom pod seeds.
2/3 bay leaves.
2 cups water
salt to taste.
lemon juice-1 or 2 tbsp.
2 green chillies split lengthwise.
chopped corriander leaves to garnish.

Method--
1. Marinade the chicken with a little salt, ginger-garlic paste , lemon juice and set aside for 15-30 mins.
2. Cook the lentils with the water(2 cups) and some salt(remember there is salt in chicken too). When cooked, mash them to form a thick liquid, set aside.
3. Heat a pan and spray with oil. When heated well, pop in the bay leaves and cardamom seeds.Fry until bay leaves turn golden.
4. Add the chopped onion and fry until you get a nice aroma.
5. Next add the marinated chicken and all the powder spices. Fry well moving them in the pan for about 5 minutes. See that all chicken is well coated with the spices.
6. When chickens are all sealed and nearly done, add the mashed lentils, stir well to mix with the flavours in the pan, add the split green chillies, and cook covered on low heat for another 5 minutes. If too thick, you can add some water at this point.check salt and add if more is required. Cook covered, until chicken is fully done. Keep stirring in between.
7. When done, turn off the heat and garnish with the chopped corriander.

8. Your lentil-chicken is ready. Serve with plain boiled rice or fried rice or roti, naan etc.... whatever you fancy. I served it with peas and carrots pulao.

Quick & easy lentil recipe

Easy to cook dal(lentils) oil free. I wish to share a very simple recipe. The following recipe tastes best with Moong dal(yellow lentils), but also works with red lentils. Give it a try, and share your experiences.
The quick & easy way is --

1.Wash the lentil/dal well.
2.Soak for 30 minutes, and then drain the water.
3.Add the lentil to a pan ( pressure cooker if using).
4.Add 3 times water(if using 1 cup of dal, use 3 cups water) and salt to taste.
5.Add chopped ginger and garlic.
6.Add a green chilli slitted(for less heat, remove the seeds before adding).
7.Cook in low-medium heat until lentils are soft.(if using pressure cooker, until the cooker whistels.)
8. Mash the lentils well, I use a hand beater.
9.Add chopped tomatoes, & chopped corriander, adjust water to required consistency, if too thick. Cook covered for another minute. If you wish to make it thicker,cook uncovered.
(If using pressure cooker, add tomatoes along with the lentils at step 3.)

This lentil goes very well with Plain rice/jeera rice /puffed rotis.
It is recommended that pressure cooker be used in cooking lentils, beans etc. It is a very efficient way to cook healthy meals in much lesser time, and also helps cut your energy bill. Try it and you'll fall in love with it.