Favorite Masoor Dal Recipe

Masalas

Sometimes the best things are also the simplest. I have many Indian cookbooks, but there is one dish I always come back to. Dal was the first Indian dish I learnt how to make, and it continues to be my favorite to eat.

The red masoor dal used in this recipe is mild and almost sweet and buttery, and turns yellow once it’s cooked. You can also make this dal with toor/tuvar dal and split green mung dal. It’s fun to mix them, for example half masoor and half split green mung.

You can get dal and spices at any Indian grocery store, but you can also try large grocery stores that have a good bulk section. Here in Seattle I have seen a good selection at both Madison Market and Whole Foods.

Dal is usually served with rice, one or more vegetable dishes, and plain yoghurt, but I often have it like soup with some whole wheat tortillas.

Masoor Dal
Serves 6-8 as part of an Indian meal.

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cup masoor dal, rinsed over three times
6 cups water
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
Pinch of red chili powder

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 green chilies
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
Pinch of asaefoetida (hing)
2 tsp ground coriander

Juice of one or two limes (depending on size)
Handful of fresh chopped cilantro
Salt as needed

Masoor dal

1. Prepare the dal:

Add dal to the pot of a pressure cooker.* Rinse in cold water and drain, repeat a few more times until the water runs clear. Add water, tomatoes, salt, turmeric and chili powder. Set aside to soak.

2. Make the chaunk:

Heat the oil in a small pan until hot but not smoking. (The cumin and mustard seeds should pop, test with a couple of seeds as the oil heats up.) Add the cumin and mustard seeds, stir for 10-15 seconds, then add the chilies and ginger. Stir for another 10-15 seconds, then add the onion. Turn down the heat a bit if necessary, the onion shouldn’t get brown. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion starts to become translucent. Add the asaefotida and ground coriander. Remove from the heat, and scrape all of the chaunk into the pot with the dal and water.

3. Combine the dal and chaunk and cook:

Attach the pressure cooker lid and cook for 7-8 whistles. Remove from the heat and carefully release the pressure and check that the dal is cooked. The lentils should be tender, and the liquid yellow. (If the liquid still looks transparent and watery it needs to cook more.)

4. Before serving:

Add the lime juice and fresh coriander. Taste for salt, usually quite a bit is needed. It’s amazing to me how much salt you have to add to dal before it tastes right, but add it gradually so you don’t risk ruining the whole pot of dal.

* If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can simmer the dal on the stove in a thick-bottomed pot, just make sure you stir often so it doesn’t burn.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 12:16 am and is filed under Food for Yoga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 Responses to “Favorite Masoor Dal Recipe”

  1. Vasumati Parekh on May 31st, 2008 at 4:56 am

    I am from Mumbai, India.

    I recommend that you add 2/3 small cinamon sticks and 3 cloves in the ‘chaunk’ to enhance the flavour.

  2. Thanks for the tip, I will definitely try that!

  3. I am a teenager learining to make daal for the first time. Thank You this information was some what useful.

    Regards,

    Mona Katyal

  4. Harjeet Katyal on July 30th, 2009 at 5:42 am

    Aha! I’m Mona’s sister this was a sick top with the chaunk!

  5. Hi,

    I made this last night for my vegetarian daughter who is going off to a music festival this morning (and my lunch today) and it turned out very well. Since I was almost out of masoor dal, I substituted green split peas for half the lentils. after cooking them separately. I combined the peas and dal just before adding the tarka. The slightly crunchy texture of the peas added a little contrast to the creaminess of the masoor dal.

    Thanks for the great recipe.

  6. My daughter cooked this receipe today and we found it very delicious thanks very much for your receipe

  7. Ur recipe s simply delicious…. thanx…. tried it today for lunch… A very picky eater, my dad, s convinced with this dal…

  8. I don’t understand how to make this without pressure cooker.

  9. Lana, instead of a pressure cooker just use a regular pot. Bring everything to a boil and let it simmer until the lentils are cooked and starts getting slightly mashed. (If you see lentils and water, it’s still not done.) If you try it, can you post back how long you had to boil it? I’ve tried once without a pressure cooker, but I don’t remember the cooking time.

  10. i’m trying it out right now…hope it turns out well…

  11. I tried adding a baghar to the dal once it was ready. To do this, Take a wide brimmed spoon and add a little cannola oil. Let it simmer on medium heat. Now the next few steps need to be done in quick succession or else, the contents will burn, thus ruining the taste of the already delicious dal (rather than enhancing it)
    1. To the warm oil, add a few mustard seeds (3/4 tsp). Ensure that these start to pop (your oil must be that warm - however, be careful that they are not burned!).
    2. Add a tsp of red chilli powder and within a second or two, overturn the contents of the spoon into the crock of dal. The reason being that chilli powder burns very fast.

    DISCLAIMER: This need a little bit of practice :)

    I have found that this adds a very nice flavor and color to the dal.

  12. Why is the tarka pressure cooked instead of added at the end?

  13. I like cooking the chaunk/tarka with the dal, it seems to blend better that way. But this is just a matter of personal preference, you can just as well add it at the end :)

Leave a Reply