Dal is one of the most popular dishes found in takeaways and restaurants all over India and beyond. Easy to make from just a few fragrant spices and finished with tempering and a smoky flavor, you will see why billions of people from the subcontinent call this their ultimate comfort food!
Toor (arhar, split pigeon peas), Masoor (split red lentils), Chana Dal (gram dal)
Bengal gram, not to be confused with chickpeas, is a yellow lentil, rounded on one side and flat on the other. – When in Indian shops, just ask for their native names.
Why you should make it? – Besides being fragrant and delicately balanced in flavors, lentils are a good protein source and pair up well with roti, naan, or even plain boiled rice. It is a nutritious high-fiber dinner good enough for a quick weeknight meal.
Depending on which part of the subcontinent you look at, this lentil curry has many variations. From the type of lentils used to the seasoning and herns added, each place brings out its own identity through its dal. This recipe is the one found in most popular Indian restaurants and will be an easy addition to your dinner menu.
There are two simple steps in making dal. One is boiling the lentils enough to make them mashable. The second is frying onions, ginger, garlic with a few whole spices and finishing it off with some tempering. As an extra, smoke it with charcoal or bay leaves.
What is in a Dal?
There are two simple steps in making dal. One is boiling the lentils enough to make them mashable. The second is frying onions, ginger, garlic with a few whole spices and finishing it off with some tempering. As an extra, smoke it with charcoal or bay leaves.
Dal Tadka is meant to be an almost daily part of a meal and does not need much preparation. For this reason, split lentils are used. These do not require soaking prior to cooking. Other than that onions, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes are pan-fried till cooked and added to the cooked lentils. The dish is finished with tempering.
What is tadka?
Tadka is tempering. This simply means heating ghee or oil to a smoking point and adding spices like cumin seeds, chili till the sputter and add it on top.
Lentils are first pressure cooked or boiled till they are soft. This is added to a slowly fried mixture of onions and fragrant herns and tomatoes and boiled together to let the flavors infuse. Tempering is then added as a garnish.
Which lentils, onions, fresh garlic ginger, green chilies, curry leaves South Indian ) Whole spices. Bengal gram, closely related to the chickpea family, is a yellow lentil, rounded on one side and flat on the other. – when in Indian shops just ask for toor dal, chana dal or masoor dal.
If using whole lentils, these will need to be soaked for 6-8 hours or overnight so they are easier to cook.
Just substitute ghee with coconut oil or any neutral-smelling vegetable oil.
Adding vegetables like spinach, zucchini, bottle-gourds, tomato, eggplants makes this dish even more nutritious. Or head over to our link for the ultimate power dal – Dal with lamb ————-Mutton Dal
Disclaimer :
The nutrition panel is calculated using our API Spoonacular calculator. However, always do your own calculations to confirm their values.
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Dal Tadka Dhaba Style
Ingredients
Dal
- 1 cup split dal split toor, split moong or split red lentils
- 1 tbsp ghee Use coconut oil or cooking oil for vegan options
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tso asafoetida
- 1 tsp green chilies finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 cup onions diced
- 3 whole tomatoes diced
- 1 tsp salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric ground
Tadka (tempering)
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 whole red chillies dried, whole
- 1 tsp chilli powder Kashmiri or other mild variety
- 1 tbsp cilantro leaves fine chopped
Instructions
- Boil dal in pressure cooker or stovetop with 4 cups of water.
- Heat ghee in a pan on low heat, and add asafoetida, cumin seeds till the sputter.
- Add onions, green chilies, ginger and garlic and fry till cooked well.
- Add tomatoes, turmeric, salt and corrainder powder.
- Add cooked dal in this mixture, add saltto taste and simmer for 10 minutes.
Tadka
- While it simmers, prepare the tadka.
- Heat ghee or oil to a smoking point and all tadka ingredients.
- Add this to the simmering dal.
- Once cooked, turn of the heat.
- Place a heat-proof bowl over the dal.
- Burn 2 bay leaves and add them to the bowl and cover the vessel to let the smokey flavour seep in.
- Serve hot with naan, roti ot steamed rice.
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