Vaatli Daal

This is a typical Maharashtrian snack item. But I only recently started liking it, since I ate it at hubby's maami's place last December. Maybe it was the way she made it (which I have followed) or my more mature taste buds. The daal here is chana daal/bengal gram and 'vaatli' means ground up.

Here's how I make it:

1 cup chana daal
Tempering - 2 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, pinch of asafoetida, 1/4 tsp turmeric pwd,   1 chopped green chile, 1 broken dry red chile, few chopped up curry leaves
1 tsp salt or to taste, 1 tsp sugar or to taste
1/2 tsp red chile pwd or to taste (dish should be on spicier side)
1/2 tsp cumin pwd
1/2 tsp coriander pwd
1/4 cup milk
Garnish - fresh coconut, cilantro, lemon

Soak the chana daal in water for atleast 4 hours. Drain and grind coarsely with the red chile, cumin and coriander pwds. I use my Magic Bullet blender for this.

Make the tempering by heating the oil, adding the mustard seeds and when they stop spluttering add the rest of the tempering ingredients. Add the ground up chana daal mix, salt and sugar. Cover and cook on medium heat for 10 mins, mixing occasionally. Add the milk. According to maami, this makes the vaatli daal fluffy. Cover and cook for another 10 mins.

Serve hot garnished with fresh coconut, chopped cilantro and a wedge of lemon.