Dal Tadka - Dal Fry Recipe

Dal Fry or Dal tadka is a simple and flavourful dal recipe and one of most popular lentil dish served in Indian restaurants. For making dal tadka cooked lentils are tempered with ghee fried spices, fresh herbs and this tempering is known as tadka.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: curry, dal, Main Course

Cuisine: Indian, north indian

Keyword: dal, dal fry, dal fry recipe, dal recipe, dal tadka, yellow dal fry

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 161kcal

Author: Rekha Kakkar

Equipment

Ingredients

For Dal

1 cup Split Pigeon pea tuvar dal
¼ cup moong dal
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red chilli
½ teaspoon turmeric

For Tadka

2 tablespoon Ghee
1 teaspoon cumin
⅕ teaspoon asafoetida
1 teaspoon salt
2 green chillies
2 dried Red chillies
½ teaspoon red chilli

For Garnish

1 lime cut into slices
2 tablespoon coriander leaves/cilantro

Instructions

Cooking Dal - Stove Top Method

Wash and rinse 1 cup lentils 2-3 times.
Add dal in the pressure cooker along with 3 cups of water, salt and asafoetida. I am also sharing the instant pot method in the next section.
Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles and allow the pressure to release naturally.

Making Dal Tadka

To make fried masala for dal fry in a pan add ghee and heat that.Add cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, green chili and fry them for a few seconds.
Add chopped onions and fry them for 2-3 minutes.Now add tomatoes, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and fry this masala till tomatoes are pulpy.
Open the pressure cooker Dal consistency should be creamy.Next, add this cooked dal in the fried masala.Allow the dal to simmer with fried masala.
Heat 1 tablespoons of ghee in a tadka pan (small pan). Reduce the heat and add 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili and immediately pour this over simmering lentils for a smoky taste.
Mix it and add chopped coriander and squeeze the juice of lime before serving.
Enjoy this warm bowl of dal with roti rice or paratha.

Dal Tadka in Instant Pot

Wash and rinse 1cup Tuvar dal ¼cup moong dal for 3-4 times in water.
Add dals in the inner pot of the Instant pot along with 3 cups of water.
Put ¼ cup onion tomato masala, salt, red chilli powder, ginger paste, turmeric powder, finely chopped tomatoes in the Instant pot.
Set the Instant pot on high pressure setting and the timer to 15 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 7 minutes.
After that force release the pressure by turning pressure valve to venting position and once all pressure is released open the lid.
Dal consistency should be creamy. If it is thick you can add some boiling water to make it as per your preferred consistency. If dal is too thin you can turn the saute mode on instant pot and cook dal for few minutes.

For Tadka

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil or ghee in a tadka pan (small pan).
Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and allow them to pop. Add a pinch of asafoetida and also add slit green chillies and whole red chillis with ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder.
Immediately pour this tadka over simmering dal. Mix and then add chopped cilantro.
Serve this dal tadka with steaming hot rice and finish with lime juice and Enjoy!

Video

Notes

Onion tomato masala is perfect for making dals. You can cut short cooking time considerably if you have prepared masala in your fridge. This gives dal an authentic dhaba like the taste.

If you do not have onion tomato masala you can add ¼ cup chopped onions, 2 chopped tomatoes while pressure cooking dal. Another way is to have double tadka as I have shown in the video recipe of dal tadka.

Nutrition