Rajasthani panchmel dal or panchratna dal is made with five varieties of lentils and each adds its own flavor and texture to this unique dish. It's nourishing, weeknight friendly, and, like all Indian dals, it's delicious with rice or roti.
What is panchmel dal?
Panchmel dal (panch=five, mel=union) is a Rajasthani dal made with a blend of five varieties of lentils - toor dal, urad dal, chana dal, masoor dal and moong dal. Each brings its own unique personality, texture and flavor to create a creamy, deeply satisfying and extremely nourishing dal.
How beloved this dal is in Rajasthan, a beautiful western Indian state, is apparent from the fact that it is nicknamed panchratna dal - the dal of five jewels.
Mixing lentils to make dals is not a new concept in India. I often mix two or more dals when I make dal tadka, Malabar spinach dal and tofu dal tadka. But panchmel dal is one of the few Indian dal recipes where you will find such a broad mix of lentils, which makes it both unique and special. The toor dal is silky and creamy. The chana dal is nutty and it holds its shape for a prettier look. The masoor dal and urad dal add earthy flavor and the moong dal adds sweetness. (If you'd like to learn more about the varieties of lentils used in Indian cooking be sure to visit my complete guide to Indian pulses.)
As healthy and tasty as panchmel dal sounds, there is a rider. Rajasthan is a land known for its delicious vegetarian cuisine, including snacks like kachori. It is also known for a liberal use of ghee in all of its dishes, and ghee finds its way, in oodles, into panchmel dal recipes.
But fear not because we don't use ghee on this vegan blog. Also the spices and other seasonings make panchmel dal so nutritious, it doesn't need a lot of gilding. For my otherwise authentic recipe I replace the ghee with a small amount of oil. The dish I have for you is a tasty, nutritious dal you could eat any day of the year and feel good about.
Recipe card
Rajasthani Panchmel Dal
Ingredients
- ¼ cup toor dal (split pigeon peas)
- ¼ cup urad dal (blackgram lentils, the skinned white ones are best for this)
- ¼ cup chana dal (bengalgram dal)
- ¼ cup masoor dal (pink lentils)
- ¼ cup moong dal
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- 2 teaspoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 dry red chili peppers (break into two. You can skip these and add cayenne or red pepper flakes to taste. If using cayenne, add it with the other ground spices)
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste (use less or more based on your taste)
- 2 tomatoes (diced)
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom (green cardamom)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Cook the dal with the bay leaves, if using, until really soft. In an Instant Pot pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and do a manual release after 10 minutes or let the pressure release naturally. In an Indian-style pressure cooker, cook for four whistles of the pressure regulator. Make sure you cover the lentils with 2-3 inches of water at least before pressure cooking.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan or dutch oven. Add the mustard and once it sputters, add the red chili peppers.
- Next add the onions and saute them for about five minutes over medium-high heat or until they brown. Add some salt to help them along.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste, stir fry for a few seconds, then add tomatoes and mix them in.
- Add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom powders and the Kashmiri red chili powder or the paprika, if using. Saute for a minute to mix. Put a lid on the pot and let the tomatoes cook down until pulpy and soft.
- Add the cooked lentils to the pot with any cooking water and stir to mix well.
- Add water if necessary to thin the dal out to your liking. Bring it to a boil, lower the flame and let it simmer around 10 minutes so all the flavors merge. Sprinkle on the garam masala--start with less and add more per your taste.
- Add salt as needed and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Panchmel dal FAQs
I usually don't soak lentils if I am pressure cooking them, or if I am cooking them in the Instant Pot. But if you plan to do this on the stovetop, in a saucepan, it's a good idea to soak them for a couple of hours or even overnight to reduce cooking time.
You will need 10 minutes on high pressure in an Instant Pot. Wash the lentils and cover them with at least two to three inches of water. If you use an Indian style pressure cooker that whistles, cook the dals for four whistles.
Yes! Any lentil would taste great with the spices that go into this dal, and if you don't have all five you can certainly just use one or two or three or four. Just make sure you increase the proportion of the dals accordingly. I used a total of 1 ¼th cups of lentils in this recipe--¼th cup of each kind.
This dal goes really nicely with any rice dish, including basmati rice, or roti. A naan, like this vegan naan, is wonderful too. Serve a sabzi on the side, like cauliflower sabzi, green beans sabzi or bhindi masala.
More tasty Indian dal recipes
Vanessa says
This has shot to the top of my favourite dal recipes because it's got such an unusual flavour from the cardamom powder! I love that it is easy to make. I actually made this the first time because I got so sick of my usual chana dal recipe and this is really a fantastic new way to eat dal. I made it with all 5 dals but I also made it just with chana dal and it was great. I did double up on the turmeric because I love bright yellow dals! Thank you!!
Vaishali says
Hi Vanessa, so happy you enjoyed the panchmel dal. Good to know it turned out just as tasty with just chana dal. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
Sowmya says
Wonderful recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Vaishali says
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Mark says
Made this today and really like it. We now have have bags of all 5 dal so will be making more more recipes. 😉
Vaishali says
Awesome, so happy to hear!