Collard Greens Dal

We had just returned from India after a fun vacation and I had to make a hearty, comforting meal for lunch. We were craving for some comfort food after eating the airline food for a whole day.

We had almost nil fresh produce at home and I was glancing at my freezer to find something to cook with for our lunch. I found a pack of chopped collard greens, which I had picked up on sale just before we left on our trip. I have this habit of stocking up on frozen veggies and greens whenever they are on sale and they always come in handy when I run out of fresh produce. I used up fresh tomatoes and green chillies from my little balcony garden and made this dal in minutes. We had the dal with rice, roti and some vadams for our lunch.

Ingredients
Collard greens (fresh or frozen) - 1 cup chopped
Toor dal - 3/4 cup
Tomatoes - 2
Green chillies - 2
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

For the seasoning
Oil - 1 spoon
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds/jeera - 1 teaspoon
Dried red chillies - 2

Instructions

1. If using fresh collard greens, wash them and chop them into strips. If using frozen greens, use them as is.
2. In a pressure cooker, combine together washed toor dal, the collard greens, chopped tomatoes, slit green chillies and turmeric powder. Add about 4 cups of water and pressure cook for 4 to 5 whistles.
3. When the pressure gets completely released, open the cooker lid and mash the dal with a potato masher. Add salt to taste and mix well.
4. For the seasoning, heat the oil in a saucepan and add the mustard seeds. Once it starts spluttering, add the urad dal, jeera, asafoetida and dried red chillies.
5. Pour the seasoning over the cooked greens and dal and mix well.
6. Serve hot with rice or roti.