Lentil soup with golden gram ( মুগ ডাল, मुंग दाल)

Ingredients (for serving 4 people):

Moog daal (Golden gram) - 100 g(note - daal refers to the broken and husked lentils)

Paanch phoron - 2 tbsp

Bay leaves - 3

Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Onion (optional) - 1 medium (chopped into long thin slices)

Green chili - 2 (slit into two)

Dried red chili - 2

Ghee or oil - 4 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Dry roast the daal until a strong fragrance comes out. You have to keep stirring and mixing to roast it evenly. Stop as soon as you start noticing some of the lentils getting brown (once you get the idea of the smell, stop a little earlier - just before it starts getting brown). This is the specialbengali/east indian step in the process and gives it a unique flavour, rest of India cooks it without frying.
2. Boil the daal in a pressure cooker (possibly with 5 cups of water). You can boil it in regular pot as well. But it takes a long time to get done. And if the water is hard, then it may actually get tough with boiling. So pressure cooking is your best option. Cook up to  two or three whistles depending on whether you like it a little grainy or totally mashed.
3. In a wok (usually a kadai) heat up the ghee or oil. Add the dried red chilies, bay leaves and paanch phoron and let it splutter for 20 seconds. Then add the green chilies and the onion.
4. Once the onion becomes soft and transparent or golden brown (depending on your taste), pour the boiled daal. Add turmeric powder and salt to taste.
5. Add more water if it is too thick. Bring it to boil and then take it off the stove.
6. Dry roast the cumin seeds (often done by holding it in a metal ladle over a low flame) to a dark brown colour. Then grind it into a coarse powder and sprinkle it over the daal. Adding dollop of butter or ghee at the end will enhance the flavour.
7. You may garnish this with chopped coriander leaves and serve. Daal is a the most popular side dish in most of India. In the east, where the rice is cooked plain (with water only, no salt or spices), it is mixed with rice in the plate to create a background taste and eaten with another side dish (usually a vegetable dish or fried fish) as the foreground.