Toor dal in coconut curry

I love mostly all dals.They are easy-to-cook, nutritious and yummy too :) Ofcourse its a different issue that LM hates the yellowish hue on her plate!!Hope that changes in time!
On most weekends I make this dal curry goes really well with all South Indian sabjis.

You need
Toor Dal(split pigeon peas) 1 cup
Onion 1 medium chopped finely
Tomato 1 medium/large diced
Tamarind pulp 1 tablespoon
Coriander leaves/Cilantro a generous bunch chopped finely
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder a pinch


You need to make a fine paste of 
Coconut scrapped 1 table spoon
Green chillie 1
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Garlic pods 3/4

To temper you need
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Ghee/oil 1 tablespoon
Curry leaves few
Red Chillies dried 1 or 2
Asoefetida a pinch

- Soak the toor dal for a few minutes(15 minutes maybe) and pressure cook until soft.Once the pressure releases use a heavy spoon and mash the dal.
- In a heavy vessel, add the mashed dal, onions, tomatoes,tamarind pulp,salt,turmeric powder and let it boil and cook until all the vegetables are soft.
- Once the vegetables are all soft, add the coconut paste and let it boil for a few minutes.
- In a saucepan/kadhai, add the ghee/oil and let it heat, now add the mustard,red chillies, curry leaves, asoefetida.
- Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice or chapatis.