For cooking lentils

1. Soak half a cup of chana dal (kadalai paruppu) in water for one hour. After soaking, add in the cumin seeds, asafoetida, salt and red chillies. Add very little water if necessary while grinding. Pulse it several times until coarsely ground.
2. Oil an idli plate and place the ground mixture on the plate. Fill about half an inch of water in a pressure cooker and place the idli plate on the cooker. Pressure cook the mixture for 2 whistles. Switch off the flame. Let the pressure from the cooker release naturally. Let the mixture cool. Once the mixture is cool, crumble the mixture into small pieces onto a plate. Set aside.

For the Stir-Fry

1. Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds, red chillies and urad dal. Let the mustard seeds splutter. Add in the shallots, curry leaves and garlic. Fry on low medium flame for 7-8 minutes. Let the garlic and shallots get nicely brown and roasted.
2. Add in the crumbled lentils and murungai keerai leaves. Add in the salt. Fry on low flame for the next 20 minutes. Keep sauteing so the lentils dont burn. Roasting the lentils until light brown is very important for this recipe. Roasting the lentils gives a very nice flavor to the dish.
3. Once the mixture is dry and roasted, switch off the flame. Serve hot with rice and curry.