Dal Tadka | Masoor Dal Tadka recipe

Dal Tadka – comfort food at its best. Homemade, piping hot, dal tadka with steamed rice, pickle and papad is something, that I would choose any day, over other fancy dishes.

Dal chawal is a staple vegetarian dish in every Indian household and every house has its unique way of preparing dal tadka.  Here is how I make my dal tadka. I have used red lentils (masoor dal) to make this. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils (masoor dal)
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped (pyaaz)
1 medium sized tomato, finely chopped  (tamatar)
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (lehsun)
2 green chillies, roughly chopped (hari mirch)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
salt as per taste (namak)
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (hara dhaniya)

For tempering

1 tbsp oil (tel)
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (lehsun)
½  tsp asafoetida (hing)
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
½  tsp red chilly powder (laal mirch)
1 dry red chilly (sookhi laal mirch)

Other Dal recipes : Ambat Varan, Dal Banjari, Mugache Birde, Maharashtrian Varan, Dal Hari Bhari , Five lentils dal

Method

• Wash and soak the lentils in water for 30 minutes. 
• Drain the water and transfer the lentils to a pressure cooker.
• Add chopped onion, chopped tomato, chopped chillies, cumin seeds, chopped garlic, turmeric powder and salt.
• Add 2 cups of water.
• Pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles.
• Allow the pressure to escape naturally before opening the pressure cooker. 
• If consistency of the dal is very thick, add little water, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 
• For tempering, heat oil in a small pan.
• Add cumin seeds, chopped garlic, hing, turmeric powder, dry chilly and red chilly powder.
• When the ingredients start spluttering, pour this tempering into the cooked dal. 
• Serve dal tadka with steamed rice.

WATCH RECIPE VIDEO: