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Prep Time: 10 mins
cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:
4 cups Ridge Gourd, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large Onion, chopped
2 large Tomatoes, chopped into big chunks
¾ cup Split Moong Dal
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1-2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

For Coconut Paste:
½ cup grated Coconut, fresh/frozen
2-3 Green Chillies (adjust acc to taste)
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1 inch Ginger

For Tempering:
1 tsp Ghee/Oil
½ tsp Mustard Seeds
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
Few Curry Leaves
A big Pinch of Hing/Asafoetida

Method:
Wash and cook Moong Dal with turmeric powder, ridge gourd cubes, onion and tomatoes and few drops of oil with enough water (about 2-2½ cups of water) in a pressure cooker for about 10-15 minutes/2 whistles till dal is cooked.
Release the pressure from pressure cooker and let it cool before opening the lid.
Meanwhile, grind coconut, green chilli, ginger and jeera to smooth paste by adding little water at time.
Transfer this ground paste to cooked dal and mix well. Add salt to taste and let it simmer on low flame for about 5-10 minutes for all the flavours blend well. Add water to the dal if needed to get required consistency.
Heat oil/ghee in a pan and add mustard seeds. When mustard starts to pop and splutter add jeera, hing and curry leave in that order and sauté. When jeera starts to sizzle, transfer the content into dal and mix well.
Mix in chopped coriander leaves and serve this Ridge Gourd Dal with steaming bowl of Rice or Chapatti and enjoy.

Notes:
Some variations are, use Toor/Masoor Dal in place of Moong Dal and use coconut milk in place of grated coconut for different flavours.
You can also replace ridge gourd with bottle gourd, ash gourd or any other gourds.
Other dazzling dals posted on Monsoon Spice

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