Lentil fritters in Mustard sauce

I was just back from this whirwind tour last week and had almost nothing left in my fridge to cook with. Before leaving, I had carefully exhausted every perishable veggie and had spared only stuff that would not rot in a week. That included a box of eggs, milk, some potatoes, onions - and yes, a lot of pulses of various kinds. 

We are a very legume-loving family, and almost like every other Indian family, 'Dal' or 'Lentil soup' is mandatory with every meal that we take. The Husband, particularly, is very fond of lentils and will have it whichever way it is cooked. So that makes me store a whole lot of Indian pulses like Moong, Musur, Chhana and Urad daal in my pantry.

Lunch will usually be rice, a daal, a veggie concoction and fish or chicken or eggs but on this particular day, I had to substitute pulses for veggies and my mind went onto a wild goose chase!Until I remembered this very savory Lentil fritters in Mustard sauce dish that we used to have quite often back home. It is almost like a curry, which you can have with plain white rice. I do not find it taste that good with bread, but if you are game to try, why not? So off I went to work, whirring my Moong lentils into a coarse paste, frying the fritters and rustling up a flavored Mustard sauce. The dish was right off our plates in a jiffy(In fact, I love munching on the fritters themselves just like that and they just taste awesome!) and I was so happy with myself for pulling up such a quick trick to cover-up for my empty veggie tray!Clever me,huh?!?

So here you go with the recipe - do try it sometime and hope you like all the flavors in the dish!Take care!


Sending this to Amy's lovely weekly event 'Midweek Fiesta # 7'. Also posting this recipe to my event 'Love for Lentils' for everyone to enjoy!


Lentil fritters in Mustard sauce
You will need:
Moong lentils - About 100 gms (Available in any Asian/Indian grocery store). Soak in a bowl of warm water for 45-60 mins before cooking.
Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Red chili powder - 1/2 a teaspoon
Red onion - 1 small, julienned
Green chilies - Finely chopped
Ginger - 1/2 an inch, chopped
Nigella seeds - 1/4th of a teaspoon
Salt to taste
Mustard oil, for frying the fritters and preparing the sauce - 1 and 1/2 tablespoons


For the sauce:
Black Mustard seeds - 2 tablespoons
Green chilies - 4 whole (2 for tempering the sauce)


How I made it:
1. In a blender, pulse together the pre-soaked Moong lentils,cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder to form a coarse,grainy paste. To this paste, add the chopped green chilies, ginger, onion and Nigella seeds and mix well with a spoon. 


2. Heat oil in a wok and when the oil is hot, tear off little balls from the lentil dough with your fingertips and release in the hot oil. Take care not to burn the fritters, since lentil have a very high smoking point and can well burn in seconds. When the outside is crispy and light golden brown, take out the fritters and drain on a kitchen towel.


3. To prepare the sauce, put the black mustard seeds together with the green chilies and half a cup of water in a blender. Once blended, the mustard seeds will emit a very sharp pungent smell and will turn to a greenish-white paste replacing the black color. Do not blend too much as that could make the mustard paste bitter.


4. Now take a sieve and strain the mustard paste through the sieve so that you get only the runny,liquid part of the paste and the black shells of the mustard seeds are left behind in the sieve.Press down the shells against the base of the sieve to extract all the liquid and this will be the sauce for your curry.


5. In the same wok where you fried the fritters, put on the flame and add 2 whole green chilies to the oil.Next add the strained Mustard sauce and allow it to come to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and once it starts boiling, add the fried lentil fritters in to the sauce and put off the flame.

6. Add a teaspoon of Mustard oil over the top of the dish before serving and garnish with green chilies. have it hot with plain white rice and enjoy the myriad flavors!