Ingredients:

• 5 cups split Bengal Gram (Chana Dal)
• 16 cup water for stovetop 
• 1 bottle gourd medium sized, cubed (about 4 cups)
• 2 tablespoon salt
• 2 chilies, slit
• 2 tablespoons turmeric 

For tempering:

• 3 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon asafoetida
• 10-12 curry leaves
• 3 teaspoon ginger paste or freshly grated or crushed
• 3 teaspoon garlic paste or freshly grated
• 3 green chilies, slit and cut into half
• 3 cups red onions, chopped 
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 cups tomatoes chopped 
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 tablespoon red chili, ground
• 1 tablespoon coriander, ground
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 6 dried red chilies broken into two pieces
• Juice of 1 lime.
• 1 cup coriander leaves chopped finely
• 3 tablespoon oil

Instructions:

1. Soak the dal in enough water for 30 minutes or more.
2. Take soaked Bengal gram, water, salt, bottle gourd and 2 tablespoons turmeric and chilies in a pressure cooker.
3. Cover the pressure cooker with the lid and put the weight on. Let it cook for 6-7 minutes on medium heat.
4. Let the pressure go down by itself. Then open the lid, dal should be soft.
5. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add mustard seeds, cumin and asafoetida and curry leaves. Allow to sizzle.
6. Add ginger paste, garlic paste, green chilies and let it cook for a minute
7. Add chopped onions and salt, and cook till they become translucent.
8. Mix in chopped tomatoes and cook till they get soft. 
9. Mix in turmeric, ground red chili, ground coriander and garam masala. Sauté for a minute.
10. Add cooked dal with its water. If needed add extra water and make runny consistency. Add 1 cup freshly chopped coriander.
11. Let it come to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add tadka on top as mentioned below and lemon juice. 

Tempering:

1. In a pan or the tadka utensil, heat oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add dried red chilies and fry them till they become fragrant. Take care they do not get burnt.
2. Once the tadka is ready, directly pour the hot tadka on the dal.
3. Immediately, cover the dal with a lid and let it stay closed for some 8 to 10 minutes. We do this at home, so that the flavours and aroma of the tadka gets very well infused with the dal.
4. Later mix well.
5. Serve dal with boiled rice and papadums, accompanied by a side vegetable dish and a bowl of yogurt or raita.