Dal

Ever since I was little I remember having dal with my meals. Growing up, there usually were two kinds of dal served with our meals. Yellow dal and black dal. Yellow dal consisted of Masoor lentils and split pea lentils mixed ¾ to ¼ ratio.  Sometimes Split Chana dal was also added to the mix. Black dal was split Urad dal. 

Our dal that I grew up eating was always runny, not so thick as the ones served in Indian restaurants here in the US. I think the purpose for a runnier dal was to have something to help rice go down easy. I much prefer the thicker soup consistency to a runny dal. 

We ate rice at least twice a day, for morning and evening meals. Meals were usually served in the order of rice, dal, vegetable dish, sautéed greens and a fermented or fresh pickle (depending on what’s available at the time) of some kind. Our meals always had a side dish of something sour or bitter. The recipe below is for yellow dal that can be served over rice or by itself as a soup. Yum!

  • Serving size: 6
  • Prep. time: 10 min
  • Cook time: 15 min

Equipment:

Ingredients:

    Topping

    • 1/4 of Onion (diced finely)
    • 2 cloves of Garlic (diced finely)
    • 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
    • 1 tbsp Butter or Ghee
    • 1 tsp Tomato paste or (1) diced Roma tomato

    Direction

    1.  Mix and soak two lentils together
    2.  Place them in a pressure cooker, and add 6 cups of water
    3.  Add salt, ginger and turmeric, bring to boil
    4.  Cover the pressure cooker and cook in low to medium heat for 20 minutes
    5.  Remove from heat and take pressure off the pressure cooker
    6.  Heat butter and add cumin seeds and temper them until dark brown to black
    7.  Add onion, garlic and sauté for a few minutes until translucent
    8.  Add tomatoes and cook for another couple of minutes
    9.  Pour the mixer into dal and stir well
    10. Serve on top of rice or eat as a soup

    If you are using a pressure cooker be sure to read & follow manufacturer's directions well. If you do not have a pressure cooker, a crock pot would work. I have not cooked my version of dal in a crock pot but it's doable. The texture might be little different. Timing will also vary as it can be cooked in a pressure cooker within 30 minutes.