Easy Zucchini Dal
A tasty and easy zucchini dal, flavored with tomatoes and curry powder. Eat the dal with rice and/or roti for a simple, delicious meal. A vegan, gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free recipe.
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 99kcal
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.
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.
Nutrition
Calories: 99kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 473IU | Vitamin C: 44mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg