Mummy's mug and masoor dal

Shruti sent this as one unbroken voice note. Three to four whistles is not from anywhere — it's her own experiment, and it worked. The water measurement is one and a half lines of your forefinger above the dal, which sounds like nothing and is actually the whole recipe.

mug masoor methi jeeru rai rai-methi mix hing haldar dhana dhana-jiru vaghar Eldoret masala nosu three to four whistles Eldoret

Ingredients

1½ handfulsmug — soaked in the steel nosu
1 handfulmasoor
[to confirm]onions, chopped
2tomatoes, blended
[to confirm]dhana (coriander) — there's some in the freezer; use it up, don't leave it too long
[to confirm]oil — avocado or olive is best. Sunflower is fine for now, use it up.
[to confirm]jeeru
[to confirm]rai-methi mix
1 dothing
[to confirm]salt
[to confirm]dhana-jiru
[to confirm]haldar
[to confirm]chutney
optionalEldoret masala (Induben's) — or ginger and garlic

Method · 30 min soak · 25 min cook

Soak the mug and masoor in water for at least 30 minutes. That's what gets the acid out of the dals.
While it soaks, get everything ready: chop the onions, blend two tomatoes, have the dhana out of the freezer.
Wash the soaked dals, drain, keep ready.
Oil into the pressure cooker. Do the vaghar: jeeru, the rai-methi mix, a dot of hing.
Onions in. Cook until golden brown.
Add the mug, the tomato, and all the masala — salt, dhana-jiru, haldar, chutney. Dhana in too.
Water: put your forefinger on top of the dal. There should be enough water to reach one and a half lines of your finger.
Close the pressure cooker properly and press the whistle in properly. Both matter — it can blow up otherwise.
Three to four whistles.
If you're in a rush, run it under cold water in the sink until it's completely cool. Test it by lifting the whistle slightly. If you're not in a rush, walk away and let it cool on its own. Only open it when it's cool, or it'll be wrong.
Check the mug. If it's still very raw, add a bit of water, close it again, one more whistle.
Add some water, boil a little, taste, adjust the masala. That's it.

Still to confirm

Get quantities for onion, oil, salt, dhana-jiru, haldar, chutney
Confirm 'rai-methi mix' — transcript says 'rai netti'
MISSING RECIPE: Eldoret masala (Induben's). Referenced here and by the egg curry. Not in the archive.
MISSING RECIPE: egg curry

In the margins

Three to four whistles should do it — that was my experiment. It worked.

Shruti · 16 Jul 2026

It's not rocket science you'll be fine.

Shruti · 16 Jul 2026

Quantities for the onion, masala and oil still missing. Measure once, write it down.

Diva · 16 Jul 2026

Hi Diva. So for the mug and the masoor you soak about one and a half handfuls
of mug in the steel nosu for you and one handful of masoor should do and soak
that in water for at least 30 minutes or so then all the acid from the dals
come out but while it's soaking what you do is you chop some onions there's
dana in your freezer for now use that up don't leave it too long um you can
always buy some fresh dana and chop and keep it in the fridge and you can drop
it in your onion cutter as well blend two tomatoes as well and keep everything
ready then you wash your mug and keep it ready and your masoor. You drain the
water that you'd soaked and then keep it ready then you put a little bit of oil
in your in the pressure cooker now use avocado olive oil that's the best
sunflower oil i just bought up bought because that's what i saw that day um but
it is cold press so it's not a bad sunflower oil if you want to use it up but
ideally best to cook in olive oil or avocado oil but the sunflower is fine for
now and use it up in pasta and other things so then you put the oil and you put
you do your vagaar. Now with the vagaar you put jeeru, you put uh the rai netti
mix and a dot of hing. And you put the onions in. Once the onions are kind of
golden brown you add the mug. And you add the tomato and you add all the masala
in. You add salt dhanachiru haldar chutney everything and then you have to put
water. The water needs to be if you can mix everything from the top layer of the
mug and you measure sort of one and a half lines of your finger your forefinger
if you put that on the top of your of the mug make sure there's enough water to
reach one and a half lines um and then you can even put some dhana which is in
the freezer. And close the pressure cooker mix it all close the pressure cooker
make sure you close it properly and then put the whistle let it run for about
three to four whistles and then if you want to eat it very quickly run it under
cold water. on on the sink and make sure it's um completely cool you can test it
by kind of slightly keep lifting the whistle up and down and let it cool and
then open it. If you're not in a rush just leave the pressure cooker do some
other work when it's cool you open it make sure the pressure cooker is open when
it's cool otherwise it'll be wrong. The pressure cooker also must be closed
properly and the whistle must be pressed in properly before you cook because
even that can affect it can blow up okay so just be careful there but it's not
rocket science you'll be fine just learn it takes a while to learn how to close
the pressure cooker but when you when you figure it out it'll be fine. The
rubber is new it's tight that's why it's hard to kind of twist it but you'll get
the gist of it. When you open the pressure cooker you check if the mug is very
raw you can probably do one more whistle. You have to do add maybe a bit of water
and close the pressure cooker at the whistle maybe let it go for one whistle or
so you just have to guess but three to four whistles should do it that was my
experiment. It worked and then you can add some water boil a little bit taste it
for taste add any other masala you might want to add and that's it. It's all good
one thing i forgot to give you was the Eldoret nani's masala which you know you
also used for your egg curry and stuff which you can put in these dals but normal
masala is fine which you can also add ginger and garlic because we've had that
before and yeah let me know or when you're making it you can call me

Shruti, voice note · July 2026 · transcribed verbatim, punctuation as spoken

Shruti explaining the dal, start to finish
recorded Jul 2026