Masoor Dal

Name: Masoor Dal
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups cooked masoor dal (pressure cook the dal with salt and a pinch of asafoetida in the instant pot for 18 minutes.); 1 onion (small diced ); 1 tomato (medium diced); 4 cloves garlic (crushed); 1 inch ginger (finely chopped); 2 or to taste red or green chillies (sliced ); 1 tsp coriander stalks; 1 tbsp coriander powder; 1 1/2 tsp or to taste black pepper powder; 1 tsp or to taste red chilli powder; 1/2 tsp turmeric powder; 1 each bay leaf, cinnamon, mace, red chilli and stone flower; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 4 each cardamom, cloves and peppercorns; 1 tbsp mustard oil; 1 tsp my golden ghee or butter or normal ghee; salt to taste; fresh coriander (for garnishing)

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Masoor Dal is one of my favourite dishes and you are going to love this recipe!

Masoor dal or whole red lentils are quite popular in India especially in North India, they are high in fibre, packed with protein and good for heart health legumes. I like making these lentils in many different ways, dry, gravy and even with vegetables.

This Masoor dal or whole red lentil curry recipe is deliciously spicy!

I have added beautiful spices like stone-flower which gives an incredibly deep and spicy flavour to this dish. With stone-flower, I like to use some whole more spices in this Masoor dal such as mace, bay leaf, cardamom etc, trust me the amalgamation of these spices is fantastic. If you can’t find some of these spices then you can just use cumin seeds, black peppercorns.

This Masoor dal recipe can be vegan too!

To make this dish, I use mustard oil and garnished it with my Golden Ghee, but if you can cook this dish in mustard oil or coconut oil.
Sometimes I like to add coconut milk or coconut cream to make a variation of the same recipe. You can add heavy cream if you prefer dairy.

Have a lot of leftover Masoor dal and don’t want to eat it but don’t want to throw it either?

Here is my favourite hack with leftover dal recipe, I turn them in parathas. I just add whole wheat flour, some salt and knead the dough without water. I have served these parathas with Vegan Methi Matar and it was a fantastic combination. #zerowaste

You can watch also watch for this recipe here.

So this is how you make this Masoor Dal!

Masoor Dal

Masoor dal or whole red lentils curry is perfect with parathas and rice.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Indian Cuisine

Keyword Masoor Dal, Toor Dal

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings

Author Gayatri Singh

Equipment

Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot
Saucepan

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked masoor dal pressure cook the dal with salt and a pinch of asafoetida in the instant pot for 18 minutes.
1 onion small diced
1 tomato medium diced
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 inch ginger finely chopped
2 or to taste red or green chillies sliced
1 tsp coriander stalks
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp or to taste black pepper powder
1 tsp or to taste red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 each bay leaf, cinnamon, mace, red chilli and stone flower
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 each cardamom, cloves and peppercorns
1 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp my golden ghee or butter or normal ghee
salt to taste
fresh coriander for garnishing

Instructions

In a thick-bottomed saucepan or cast iron pot, heat mustard oil. Once hot add in all the whole spices and let them splutter.
Now add the coriander stalks, garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add in the onion, chilli and saute for 5-6 minutes till the onion is nice and golden. Always add some salt when you cook onions.
Add in the spice powders, mix well and add 1 tbsp of water to prevent them from burning. Tip in the tomatoes. Mix it well, saute for 2-3 minutes.
Tip in the lentils, mix it well. Add 3/4 cups of water. Keep it on medium flame and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add freshly chopped coriander and golden ghee. Mix it well.
Serve hot with rice or rotis.