You need just 10 ingredients to make this simple and authentic Indian yellow dal recipe. It's cozy, filling and spectacular with rice or roti.
What is dal?
Dal is the collective term used for split legumes or lentils in many parts of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is also the name of a soup-like dish that most south Asians eat nearly every day, regardless of where in the world we live.
There are many excellent reasons why we love dal:
- You can combine it with a grain like rice or wheat to make a complete protein - perfect in a country like India with a sizeable population of vegetarians.
- Dal is a versatile dish. Serve it with roti for dinner, spoon it over basmati rice for the lunchbox, or eat it by itself, like a soup.
- Lentils are among the most nourishing foods you can eat. They have fiber and protein and most dal recipes are naturally soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free. In India, dal is considered a very kid-friendly food. It is often the first solid food an infant eats because it's so gentle on the stomach.
- There are countless ways to make a dal, with variations all around India, and you will never tire of eating it! Nearly every dal recipe is spiced with a "tadka" or tempering of spices like mustard and/or cumin seeds, turmeric and chili peppers. Some dals, like Parsi dhansak and Sindhi sai bhaji, include vegetables. Others, like a south Indian kootu, are flavored with a coconut-spice masala paste. Still others, like dal makhani, are flavored with butter and cream.
If you popped into my house for dinner on a weeknight, I'd very likely serve you a simple dal, like this one. I designed the recipe so it's super easy to put together in a hurry, but also deeply satisfying and delicious. Everyone you serve it to will be licking their fingers!
I like toor dal or yellow lentils in this recipe because they have a neutral flavor and a soft and creamy texture, which works well with the simple spices. You can buy toor dal online or at any Indian grocery store. It also goes by the names of pigeon peas or arhar dal.
Dal can be made with any variety of lentils and I've shared so many fantastic Indian dal recipes with you, including masoor dal, spicy urad dal, cholar dal (with chana dal) and moong dal. Rajasthani panchmel dal uses a mix of five lentil varieties.
Recipe card
The Best Dal Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas/arhar dal/tuvar 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 water in a pot, pressure cooker or Instant Pot liner. See FAQs above 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.Â
- 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
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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.
Read this guide to learn more about the many varieties of legumes used in Indian cooking.
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!
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.