This dal recipe turns split yellow pigeon peas, or toor dal, into a creamy, comforting Indian lentil dish with tomatoes, turmeric and an aromatic tempering of cumin and mustard seeds. It is a simple version of a dal served every day in Indian homes and it is naturally vegan, soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free. Serve it with rice or roti for a satisfying dinner.
An authentic, everyday dal
I grew up eating dal nearly every day in India and if you popped into my home on a weeknight, I'd very likely serve you this simple but utterly flavorful dal. I designed the recipe so it's super easy to put together but also deeply satisfying and delicious.
This is a simple dal, with an ingredient list much shorter than other highfalutin dals you might order at an Indian restaurant, including dal tadka and dal makhani. You make the tempering or tadka at the beginning and add the remaining ingredients, including the lentils, to the pan. Simmer the dal for a few minutes and you'll have a delicious meal that you'll be proud to serve and your family will love to eat.
I make this dal recipe with yellow lentils or toor dal (also called arhar dal, tuvar dal, tur dal or split pigeon peas). Toor dal is the lentil variety most often used in traditional Indian dal recipes like south Indian sambar, Gujarati dal dhokli and North Indian dal palak. It has a mild, nutty flavor and it cooks up silky soft, giving the dal a smooth and creamy consistency.
A simple tempering of mustard seeds, cumin seeds and optional curry leaves adds layers of aromatic flavor, while tomatoes and lemon juice brighten up the dal and add a welcome tang.
One of the reasons dals like this one are so popular in south Asian countries is they offer terrific nutrition: they can be served with rice or roti and the lentils, when combined with the grains, form a complete protein. This is especially important in India, which has a sizeable population of vegetarians. Lentils are also loaded with nutrients, including heart-healthy fiber, and they are so gentle on the tummy that dal is often the first solid food fed to an infant in India.
You need just 10 ingredients to make this yellow dal and if you have cooked lentils on hand it comes together very, very quickly. I meal-prep by cooking the toor dal lentils the weekend before in the Instant Pot and it takes me no more than 15 minutes to make the dal on a busy weeknight.
Here's the recipe.
Love cooking with lentils? Try these recipes that showcase the deliciousness of popular Indian lentil varieties, including masoor dal, spicy urad dal, cholar dal (with chana dal) and moong dal. Rajasthani panchmel dal uses a mix of five lentil varieties.
So, many thanks for this recipe - simple to make yet complex in flavours. You really weren't exaggerating when you said it was "the best".
-Julian
Recipe card
Dal Recipe (Easy Indian Yellow Lentils)
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas/arhar dal/tuvar dal)
- 2½ cups water (for cooking the lentils, plus about 1 cup more for making dal)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon oil (Use any oil of your choice, including avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil or coconut oil.)
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoon cilantro
- 1-2 green chili peppers (like jalapeno or serrano. Cut into thin strips. Deseed for less heat)
- 2 medium tomatoes (finely diced)
- Salt to taste
- Juice of ½ lemon
Optional ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida (hing)
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
Instructions
Cook lentils
- Place the lentils with turmeric and 2½ cups water in a pot, pressure cooker or Instant Pot liner. See FAQs for more on how to do this.
- Cook the dal until very creamy. Use a whisk to lightly beat the dal until it's creamy.
Make the tempering or "tadka"
- Heat the oil in a wide saucepan, Dutch oven or karahi, then add the mustard and cumin seeds and asafetida, if using.
- As soon as the mustard seeds sputter, add the cilantro and optional curry leaves and the green chili peppers.
- Sauté the cilantro and curry leaves for a minute, then stir in the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes until they have expressed most of their juices and are very soft.
Add the lentils
- Add the cooked dal to the saucepan and mix well. Add water to thin out the lentils - I add about a cup. Bring the dal to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover and cook for five minutes. This gives the flavors a chance to meld.
- Turn off the heat, then add in the lemon juice and garnish with more cilantro before serving.
Notes
- Add water as needed to thin out the dal. A thicker consistency is better with rotis, a thinner consistency works well with rice.
- Don't walk away during the tempering or tadka stage. The oil can quickly burn the spices. Pour in the cooked lentils as soon as the mustard begins to sputter.
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
My top tip for creamy dal
Whisk the dal with a wire whisk after cooking. This improves the flavor and makes the dal very smooth and creamy - exactly like it would be served in an Indian home!
Yellow Lentil Dal FAQs
Pick through the dry lentils to find anything that doesn't belong there. Then rinse them in two or three changes of water. In the Instant Pot,
place lentils and turmeric in the stainless steel IP liner, add 2 ½ cups water and pressure-cook for 15 minutes. In a pressure cooker, add three cups water to the lentils and cook for three whistles. On the stovetop, soak lentils overnight or four hours, then drain and place in a saucepan with water to cover by two inches. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook 30 minutes or until lentils are very tender and mash easily. Before adding the dal to the pot, whisk or mash it to break down the lentils and make them creamy.
This dal has tomatoes in it and you can add two cups of any quick-cooking green, like spinach, along with the tomatoes.
Serve dal with basmati rice or jeera rice (cumin rice), or with roti or vegan naan. For a classic Indian meal, also serve a vegetable side dish like baingan masala, baingan bharta, aloo gobi or bhindi masala.
Store leftover dal in the fridge for up to three days. You can also freeze the dal for up to three months. To reheat, place the dal in a saucepan. Dal tends to thicken on standing so add some water, and heat through.
Learn more about the many varieties of legumes used in Indian cooking, including their flavors, textures, and best dishes to use them in.
Suzanne says
Hello Viashali. I love your recipes. I was wondering where do source Indian spices that are free from heave metals.
Vaishali Honawar says
Hi Suzanne, I buy some of my spices from Costco because they do have higher quality standards. Unfortunately not all Indian spices are available at Costco. I do buy organic when I can but that's not a guarantee there won't be heavy metals. I'd advise to look for larger, better known brands because they'd likely have better testing. Consumer Reports did a deep dive on this that has some useful guidance: https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/your-herbs-and-spices-might-contain-arsenic-cadmium-and-lead-a6246621494/
PEGGY J MURPHY says
My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. Thank you!
Vaishali Honawar says
So happy to hear!
Julian Turnbull says
My late father served alongside the Indian Army in WW2 and came away with a love of Indian culture and food, which he imparted to his children. Over the decades we travelled there with our families as often as possible, and now his grandchildren do too.
So, many thanks for this recipe - simple to make yet complex in flavours. You really weren't exaggerating when you said it was "the best".
I'm a very old widower now, and this recipe captures the very essence of India to me, where my late wife and children and I had so many adventures and so many happy times.. You're an absolute star.
Vaishali Honawar says
Thanks for sharing your story about your love for Indian food, Julian. It made my day.
Steven Mark says
Made this dahl along with the baingan masala which i reviewed separately. The dahl was excellent . I ended up cooking it for probably 50 minutes and probably could have cooked it longer to get the creamy texture described in the recipe. I live at 7000 feet so things generally take longer to cook. I was a little on the skimpy side with the tomatoes and I think next time I will increase the tomatoes even beyond the stated amount since they really added to the dish. I used all the spices except the curry leaves since mine were too old.
Vaishali says
So happy you enjoyed the recipe, Steven. Thanks for the tips on high-altitude cooking, it will help other readers in similar situations.
Enid Kondos says
You've developed a distinct writing style that makes the content easily identifiable.
vr says
Delicious. Maybe someone more familiar with Indian cooking would have know to grind the spices, but I'm not and I didn't. The flavors would hav been more blended had I done so.Also, could you suggest how to use dried curry leaves.
Vaishali says
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! There are no spices in this dal that need blending - you don’t blend cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Dried curry leaves have no flavor but if that’s all you have just use them instead of fresh. If you haven’t already bought them just skip and use cilantro instead.
Agi says
When do you add the turmeric?
Thanks.
Vaishali says
With the lentils, when you cook them.
Sumitra says
Every time I make this dal I am surprised that something so simple tastes so good. It's a classic. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Vaishali says
Aww.. so nice to hear that Sumitra. Happy you've loved the dal.
David Bragg says
I had been longing for this dish for years after an Indian friend made it for me once but I tried it with red lentils and it was just wrong. This recipe was exactly what I was looking for. Comfort food over rice with naan or as a soup side dish. Such a versatile recipe. Add hot sauce or some veggies, the ways to tweak it are up to you, but this is wonderful as is
Vaishali says
Thanks David! So happy you loved the dal.
Queencook says
My daal is very chunky at the end I can still see some curry leaves and tomatoes in the final product, do you suggest to blend it at the end?
Vaishali says
Add water if you want it thinner. The curry leaves and tomatoes won’t disappear but the tomatoes should be very soft.
Daryl Bambic says
Hello Vaishali,
I have been a faithful follower of your blog for years and never left a comment. So many of your dishes are my family's favorites (banana bread, lemon cake etc). Recently, I tried this daal recipe and loved it. I have two questions: 1- can I used dried curry leaves instead of the fresh? and 2 - can I substitute tomato paste for the fresh tomatoes. Sometimes the fresh tomatoes are so darn expensive! (Once I paid $1.62 Canadian for ONE tomato!)
Thank you for all your work in this blog and I also really love to watch your YouTube videos as well.
Faithful follower,
Vaishali says
Hi Daryl, thanks for the lovely message. 🙂 It is so nice to hear you've been making the recipes, and I appreciate you letting me know.
On your questions, yes, you can sub dried curry leaves but you won't get the same flavor as you do from the fresh, so if you don't already have dried curry leaves don't go to the expense of buying them. Just use the cilantro, add a little more perhaps. And yes, you can sub tomato paste. Use one to two tablespoons--too much might make the dal too acidic.
Ellen Poole says
Full of flavour, easy to make and is definitely the Best Dahl recipe.
Vaishali says
Yay, thanks Ellen! ❤️
Lisa says
This recipes was absolutely delicious. I followed the instant pot cooking method and made everything as-written except doubled the spices including the curry leaves because I like a lot of flavor (but not the asafetida since that stuff is so potent) . My partner who doesn't typically enjoy Indian cuisine loved it - he ate two servings. I served it on basmati rice with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro on top. Amazing. Thank you!
Vaishali says
Hi Lisa, so happy you loved the recipe! I hear you on asafetida. Usually a pinch is enough, but perfectly fine to leave it out. 🙂
Deborah Grantham says
Made this for my husband. He is very particular about his Indian food. After 20 years together, he finally gave this dish 5 stars.
Vaishali says
Wow, so awesome to hear, Deborah! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Paula says
My favorite dal ever! The whole family loves it, including my five-year-old twins. We never have leftovers. Thanks for another amazing recipe.
Vaishali says
Thanks for letting me know, Paula!
Rita D says
Looking over the recipe I see no mention of how much water to use when cooking the lentils. Am I being blind? Please reply.
Vaishali says
It's in the FAQs, as indicated in the recipe card. See under "how to cook lentils".
AJ says
But are you supposed to change the water after the lentils are boiled? Or do you just add all the water with the lentils to the tadka?
Also feel that a precise water-to-lentil-ratio could be helpful 🙂
*gonna cook it now, will let you know how it went afterwards
Vaishali says
No, don't throw away the water the lentils were cooked in. Add it to the tadka with the lentils. Because the sizes of pots and pans and pressure cookers vary, a good rule of thumb is to have enough water to cover the lentils by two inches.
Rea says
Hello from London! 🇬🇧 Just discovered your amazing site. Can I cook this using yellow split peas? I mistakenly thought they’re toor. Thank you ☺️
Vaishali says
Yellow split peas should work. In the U.S. that's what toor dal is labeled in supermarkets, but even if you got chana dal it should work with this recipe!
Nanette says
This was excellent! I've never made dal that was as good as I'd get in an Indian Restaurant before.
Vaishali says
Awesome!! So happy you made it. ❤️
Raxa says
Best
Vaishali says
Awesome!
Brenda says
I can’t locate yellow lentils. What is a good substitute? Also, I can’t locate black mustard seeds. What could I substitute? Thank you.
Vaishali says
Hi Brenda, you can use pink lentils. If you can't find the mustard seeds skip them and just use cumin seeds.
Ash says
These are very common ingredients and is radially available everywhere go to any Indian spice store these things will be available unless stock is finished