A nice chana dal

I wanted beans, so I made this. It uses nice fresh ingredients (I would usually do canned tomatoes or frozen spinach) but this is nice and fresh. Also not too strongly spiced, onions really do heavy lifting.

• 1 cup channa dal (split hulled chickpeas)

• 3 cups? water

• 2 teaspoons salt

• black cardamon

• bay leaves

• turmeric (I used fresh knob)

• 1 tablespoon ghee

• 1 big onion, sliced thin

• 2 tablespoons (approximately) fenugreek seeds

• 2 green cardamon

• 1 knob ginger

• 2 fresh tomatoes

• gochugaru (about 2 teaspoons? to taste)

• 1 bunch spinach

Procedure

1. Soak channa dal in boiling water for 30 min, then discard soaking liquid.

2. Cook in instant pot with water, salt, black cardamon, bay leaves, turmeric for 15 minutes on high pressure (could try less). Let out steam naturally. I let it sit overnight, then drained (water was quite salty).

3. Toast fenugreek seeds and green cardamon (no oil), then add ghee and onions. Caramelize onions down. At this point I mince and add ginger (a good amount, 1.5 inches?)

4. Once onions are well caramelized, add tomatoes, cut in pieces. Cook down, can add water to deglaze if it starts sticking.

5. Put in drained channa dal, along with boiled spices. Add water and salt to taste.

6. At the end, stir in chopped spinach and gochugaru. Don’t overcook this, go just until wilted.