Try this summery, delicious, one-pot Indian zucchini dal! It's one of my favorite ways to eat this super veggie. The dal is simply flavored with tomatoes and curry powder and you can serve it with basmati rice and/or roti for a simple, delicious meal. A vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free recipe.
Zucchini is one of summer's early offerings, and what a delicious offering it is! It makes sweet treats even more delicious, like this vegan zucchini bread, vegan zucchini cake, and vegan zucchini halwa; and it adds a healthy and flavorful flair to savory dishes, like this garlicky zucchini rice, zucchini kofta curry, and zucchini blossom pakoras.
Each year, as the weather warms up, I can't wait to eat more of this amazing, healthful vegetable. I add it to almost everything you can imagine, from rice to curries to desserts.
One of my favorite and easy ways to use it is in this zucchini dal.
Although zucchini is available in supermarkets year-round here in the United States, it is actually in season between June and August. I like to eat seasonally as much as possible, so in winter I tend to stick with winter squashes and in summer I eat more of an amazing variety of summer squashes, from zucchini to yellow squash to pattypan squash (which look like chubby little flying saucers) and many more. You can use any of these summer squashes in this dal.
Zucchini was not a vegetable I was familiar with growing up in India but with globalization it is now quite easily available there. If you are in India and believe in eating locally (always a better option), any Indian squash, like bottle gourd (dudhi), ash gourd (white pumpkin) or ridge gourd, would work very well in this dal.
I gave this zucchini dal a south Indian flair, with coconut oil, curry leaves and a dash of curry powder. You can even add some coconut milk to finish it off and make it more creamy, although I leave it out because the dal is amazingly delicious as it is.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried tuvar dal (arhar dal, pigeon peas)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Coconut oil is really nice here but you can sub with any vegetable oil.
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 10-12 curry leaves. Individual leaves, not entire sprigs.
- 2 green chili peppers. Use jalapeno, serrano or any other green pepper you have. Deseed for less heat.
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 2 medium-large zucchini. Any other summer squash would work just as well.
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (or sambar powder)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
How to make zucchini dal
- Cook the dal with turmeric powder and enough water until really soft and mushy. This is easily done in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, but you can also do it on the stovetop. Whisk the cooked dal so it becomes creamy.
- Heat oil. Add the mustard seeds and wait until they sputter and crackle. Add the curry leaves and green chili peppers. Saute for a few seconds. Then add the tomatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes until tomatoes are soft. They don't have to turn mushy.
- Add the diced zucchini and saute for five minutes until the zucchini is tender but still has a bite.
- Add the dal. Don't add water at this point unless the dal is really dry. The zucchini will express a lot of liquid.
- Bring the dal to a boil, cover, and cook for five minutes. Add more water at this point if dal is too thick.
- Stir in curry powder. Add salt to taste. Sprinkle on the cilantro and turn off heat.
- Serve hot.
Make ahead and storage
- Make-ahead: You can cook the lentils up to four days ahead of cooking the dal. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Refrigerate: The cooked dal and leftovers can be refrigerated for up to four days.
- Freeze: The cooked dal can be stored in a freezer-safe container for up to four months.
- Reheat: Reheat dal in microwave or stovetop. Dal tends to thicken as it stands, so add more water if necessary to thin out. Add more salt if needed.
Frequently asked questions
You certainly can. Use yellow squash, pattypan squash, butternut squash, pumpkin...they will all work here.
Yes. Sputter the mustard seeds and saute curry leaves and green peppers in a dry pan. Then add tomatoes and proceed.
Any dal can be eaten with plain white or brown rice and/or an Indian flatbread. This zucchini dal is perfect paired with a summery flatbread like mint paratha or grilled naan. Serve an Indian lime pickle and vegan cucumber raita on the side if you want to get really fancy.
More zucchini recipes you might like
More dal recipes you might like
Easy Zucchini Dal
Equipment
- Large saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried toor dal (also called tuvar dal, arhar dal or split pigeon peas)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 2 green chili peppers
- 2 medium tomatoes (finely diced)
- 2 medium large zucchini (diced into ½-inch chunks)
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (or sambar powder)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Cook the dal with turmeric and enough water until really soft and mushy. This is easily done in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, but you can also do it on the stovetop. Whisk the cooked dal so it becomes creamy.
- Heat oil. Add the mustard seeds and wait until they sputter and crackle. Add the curry leaves and green chili peppers. Saute for a few seconds. Then add the tomatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes until tomatoes are soft. They don't have to turn mushy.
- Add the diced zucchini and saute for five minutes until the zucchini is slightly tender.
- Add the dal. Don't add water at this point unless the dal is really dry. The zucchini will express a lot of liquid.
- Bring the dal to a boil, cover, and cook for five minutes. Add more water at this point if dal is too thick.
- Stir in curry powder. Add salt to taste. Sprinkle on the cilantro and turn off heat.
- Serve hot.
Recipe notes
- This dal is quite creamy already, but for more creaminess add a quarter of a cup of coconut milk at the end, before stirring in the cilantro.
- To make the dal oil-free, sputter the mustard seeds and saute curry leaves and green peppers in a dry pan. Then add tomatoes and proceed.
- Sub the toor dal with moong dal or masoor dal if that's what you have.
- You can use any summer squash in this recipe. If you are making it in winter, use a winter squash.
- Wherever you are in the world, if you believe in eating locally, use a locally available squash. Indian squashes like bottle gourd, ridge gourd or ash gourd would all be wonderful in here.
- Any dal can be eaten with plain white or brown rice and/or an Indian flatbread. This zucchini dal is perfect paired with a summery flatbread like mint paratha or grilled naan. Serve an Indian lime pickle and vegan cucumber raita on the side if you want to get really fancy.
- Make-ahead: You can cook the lentils up to four days ahead of cooking the dal. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Refrigerate: The cooked dal and leftovers can be refrigerated for up to four days.
- Freeze: The cooked dal can be stored in a freezer-safe container for up to four months.
- Reheat: Reheat dal in microwave or stovetop. Dal tends to thicken as it stands, so add more water if necessary to thin out. Add more salt if needed.
Katy
This was great. The mustard seeds gave a totally different taste to zucchini, which I can get tired of in the summer. I used half curry leaves and half bay leaves because the curry leaves alone can be too strong for me. Definitely will make again
in2insight
Looks like an awesome recipe and am making it now.
Had to guess about how much water and cook time for the Dal.
Perhaps you can add that info as well for those of us new to cooking with this Dal?
Vaishali
Awesome! If you're pressure cooking add about three cups of water for each cup of dal. If doing this on the stovetop make sure you add enough water to cover the lentils by two inches and top off with more water as needed if it cooks out before the dal tenderizes.
in2insight
Thank you so much!
Cooking lesson learned and practiced.
This is a great and easy recipe.
Simple yet lovely flavors (and no onion which is wonderful) that melt in the mouth.
Yummy
Vaishali
Awesome, so happy you loved it! One of my favorites for sure. 🙂