Toor dal soup with lemongrass

What can I say about toor dal (kandi pappu in telugu)! Pappu with Aavakaya pickle mixed with rice and ghee has totally out of this world taste. Toor dal is made with many combinations like spinach, lime juice, mango, tomato, Gongura, Chintachiguru (tender tamarind leaves - thanks sowmya), Methi leaves etc. My favourite combination is pappu with mango. The sour taste of mango accentuates the dal taste. Second follows pappu and lemon combination for the same reason.

Lemongrass, the second ingredient in this dish is not commonly used in indian cuisine. Lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal combination is used in many thai soups. Lemongrass has a rooty lemony flavor. So, I thought why not add lemongrass instead of lemon in the pappu combination - and it turned out to be awesome. So inspired with the soup theme of lemongrass, I made the lemongrass toor dal soup. The recipe also goes to the JFI toor dal even hosted by Linda's Out of the garden. I am looking forward for other toor dal recipes by all the wonderful food bloggers out there.

Ingredients:
1 cup toor dal (pressure cook in 1.5 cups of water)
4 1 inch lemongrass stalks ( remove the top hard layer of the lemongrass and use the inner layers)
1 tsp garlic minced
2 red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
juice of 1 lemon (instead of kaffir leaves)
1/2 tsp ginger minced (instead of galangal)

In a deep pan, heat 1 tsp of oil and add the mustard seeds, cumin, red chillies, garlic and ginger. After the mustard seeds start to splutter, add 3 cups of water. Bruise the lemongrass a bit - so that the flavors come out. Add the lemongrass and lemon juice to the water, and let it boil for few minutes. Add the toor dal and adjust salt as per taste. Enjoy the soup with warm toast. The mixture can be boiled further to get pappu consistency and can be eaten with rice. Lemongrass cannot be eaten so remove it before serving.