Allo - Moong Daal Vadi Curry

I make Allo-Moong Daal Vadi Curry when I have no vegetable in the fridge. I always stalk my pantry with Moong vadi and Nutrela Soya Nuggets, they really come handy in times of grocery crisis. Adding Moong vadis to potato makes it a very healthy combo as moong daal is a power house of proteins

Info on Moong Daal Vadi:
Moong daal vadi is available in any Indian store through out USA. I currently have "Sona" brand. I usually buy it but here is how you can make it at home:

Soak yellow moong daal for 4 hourst --> grind it without water in a processor --> add salt, pepper and chillie --> pipe it out using a cone into small mounds on a cookie tray --> sun dry it for 2-3 days or bake it in the oven to completely dry it --> store it in an air-tight container [I keep mine in the freezer for long shelf-life]




Ingredients:
Moong Vadi - 1 cup
Potato - 1 big
Onion - 1 medium
Tomato - 1.5 medium
Cilantro leaves [coriander] for garnishing
Oil - 2 tbsp or more to cook
Water as required

Cumin - 1tsp
Asafoetidia [hing]- 2 dashes

Powder Spices:
Turmeruic - 1tsp
Corriander powder - 1.5 tsp
Garam masala [MDH brand] - 1 tsp
Madras curry powder [MDH brand] - 1tsp
Red chillie powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Peel potatoes and cut them into big cubes and keep it submerged in plain water.
Chop onions and tomatoes and keep it aside

Heat 2tbsp oil in a cooker and pan fry moong vadis on low heat. Once fried, keep them on a paper towel to drain excess oil [ you can also deep fry vadis, but I like to pan fry in order to cut down the oil intake]

In the same pan pour more oil, once hot add cumin seeds and let it splutter. Now add 2 dashes of hing. Add chopped onion and cook till they are pinkish in color

Now throw in chopped tomatoes and cook for a while on medium heat. Add all the powder spices and mix well and let it cook

Once the onion-tomato gravy starts to dry add some water and puree the mixture inside the cooker using hand blender [Cuisinart] or a regular blender [if using regular blender, then after blending the gravy transfer back to the cooker]

Add potato cubes to the onion-tomato gravy followed by fried moong vadis. The gravy will coat potatoes and vadis. Cook it for 1 minutes and then add 2 or more cups of water and pressure cook. Release the pressure after 1 whistle [once you have released the pressure check if potatoes are done, if not then just boil for some more time without pressure]

Pour the curry in a serving dish and garnish with cilantro leaves. This curry goes well with plain rice, rotis[chapati] or puris