Mixed Dahl and Subji

This dish that  I made is a little bit impromptu. I have a lot of cut and frozen vegetables in my freezer and a ton of lentils in my pantry. I hate wasting food, so I decided to just create something from what I had.
 

Dahl has become a new found favorite protein of mines. It's simple to cook and so delicious. I eventually got tired of eating the usual beans, pinto, kidney and black. I was happy to find this other branch of the family. The recipe I found came in handy considering that I had 3 types of lentils in my pantry that needed to be used. Most dahl dishes included a chaunk. This is typically a dry or wet past of spices and vegetables. They are served as a compliment to the dahl itself. The ingredients can be found below.

Subji is known as  cooked vegetables in India. It is quite popular, simple and flexible to make. You simply pair vegetables that you like and taste well together and add spices.

So these are the vegetables that I decided to use for this Subji:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 eggplant
• 1/2 Indian Zucchini or Squash
• 1/4 Red Bell Pepper
• 1/4 Green Bell Pepper
• 1/4 Yellow Onion
• 1/2 medium Tomato, chopped
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• Turmeric
• Cumin seeds or powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Ghee (Indian Clarified Butter)**

For the Dahl:

• 1/2 cup of Brown Lentils
• 1/4 cup of Moong Dahl
• 1/4 cup of Toor Dahl

For the Chaunk:

• 4 tbsps of Ghee**
• 2 Habanero Peppers
• 1/4 tsp of Asafetida (hing)
• 1/3 tsp of Chili Powder

*Make sure to cook the dahl first as this is the longest part of the recipe.

Directions:

Mixed Dahl

1. 1.Combine all dahls, wash and soak in approx. 4 cups of water for 15 minutes.
2. Drain the mixture.
3. In a medium to large size saucepan combine 3 cups of water, salt, turmeric, dahl and ginger.
4. Stir and bring mixture to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and let cook for 40 minutes or until dahl is soft and slightly mushy. (I check and stir every 10 minutes. I only let it cook for 40 because I do not like a soupy texture, I prefer for it to be thick.)
   
   

(This is the dahl after 10 minutes.)

(This is the dahl after 20 minutes.)

      6. Mix dal, if needed, add more water to adjust thickness 

to your liking and cook for additional 3-4 minutes on low 

heat. The consistency will thicken over time.

      7. Add garam masala and amchoor powder.

(After 40 minutes of cooking and added spices.)

*The original recipe calls for the use of a pressure cooker. This method cooks way faster, but I do not want to invest in one of those quite yet.

For the Chaunk:

1. Heat ghee** in a small saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks immediately, the oil is ready.
   
   

     2. Add cumin seeds and as they crack add asafetida, red chilies and red chili powder. Stir for a few seconds. To prevent the spices from burning, you may add 1 teaspoon of water. 

(Make sure to cap and core the pepper, and then cut the pepper vertically into 

slices.)

Red bowl- Cumin Seeds, White bowl-red chili powder and hing.

End Result.

     3. Pour spiced Chaunk over dal.

For the Subji:

1. Heat Ghee** in a medium saucepan. 
2. Once hot add cumin seeds, garlic and onions.  
3. Let saute for about 3 minutes. 
4. Add  turmeric, salt, pepper and cumin powder (if needed) 
5. Add peppers and let cook for a minute or two.  
6. Add the eggplant and indian zucchini. 
7. Let cook for 3 minutes.                                
8. Add tomatoes
9. Add 1/4 cup of water.  
10. Mix and bring to a boil.
11. Reduce heat to medium high and let cook for about 15-20 minutes.
12. Serve.

Final Result of the Subji.

And here is everything plated:

**Ghee can be substituted in any dish for vegetable oil to make it vegan-friendly.

The original recipe for the Dahl and Chaunk can be found on Manjula's Kitchen. I modified the ingredients such as habanero peppers because that's all I could find at my local grocery stores at the time. For pictures of some of the ingredients used in this dish and my staples that I keep click here.