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Dal Recipe

December 9, 2009 by PadhuSankar 32 Comments

Dal is a North Indian dish mostly served with roti or rice. It is very simple and easy to prepare. It can be prepared with a single dal or a mix of 2-3 dals. I have used a mix of both moong dal and toor dal for preparing this dish. Today we will learn how to make basic dal following this easy recipe with step wise pictures. 

Dal Recipe
Dal with roti

Dal Recipe


 Prep Time : 15 mins

 Cook Time : 20 mins 
 Serves: 2
 Recipe Category: Side Dish
 Recipe Cuisine: North Indian

   Ingredients needed

   Split Moong Dal/pasi paruppu -1/4 cup
   Toor Dal /Arhar dal- 1/4 cup

   Finely Chopped onions – 1/2 cup
   Finely chopped tomatoes – 1/2 cup
   Ginger -1 inch piece (peeled and finely chopped)
   Garlic -2-3 cloves minced
   Green chilli -1 finely chopped
   Fresh lemon juice -1 tbsp
   Salt as required

   Spice Powder

   Turmeric powder – a pinch
   Coriander powder -1 tsp
   Cumin powder – 3/4 tsp
   Chilli powder -1/2 tsp
   Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp

   For the seasoning

   Oil – 1 tbsp
   Mustard seeds – 3/4 tsp
   Jeera/cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
   Urad dal – 1/2 tsp (optional)
   Red chilli -1
   Asafoetida/hing -a pinch

Preparation

Soak both the dal together in warm water for 15 minutes. Pressure cook with needed water (just enough water to cover the dal) and a pinch of turmeric powder for 3 whistles. Mash it well and keep it aside.

Finely chop onion, tomatoes, green chilli and ginger. Keep all the ingredients needed ready for seasoning. 

Basic dal recipe

Method

Heat 1 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add cumin seeds, when it sizzles, add urad dal, hing and red chilli.

When urad dal turns golden brown, add finely chopped onions and saute until they become golden brown. Add a little salt to speed up the process.

frying onions


Add ginger, garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

how to prepare dal


Add tomatoes, all the spice powder, salt needed and cook until tomatoes become mushy and oil separates. If it is too dry, you can add 1-2 tbsp of water.

Then add cooked dal, 1 1/2 cups of water and simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Adjust water according to the consistency required. Remove from flame. The consistency of the dal should neither be too thin nor too thick.

North Indian dal

Add lemon juice, mix well and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with chapati or roti or rice. Enjoy!

Do check out my

How to cook dal

Dal Makhani 

Masoor dal Tadka

Dal Palak 

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you pin it or share it with your Facebook fans or Twitter followers or Google+ circles today. All it takes is a simple click on the “pin it” “like,” “share,” “tweet,” or Google+ buttons below the post. It will keep me motivated. Thank you!

Related posts:

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Masala powder

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Filed Under: Side dish, Side Dish For Chapati, Uncategorized, Video Recipe Tagged With: Dal, Protein Rich Recipes, Uncategorized




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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. priya

    January 5, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    love to have it with rotis!!..yummy!

    Reply
  2. Gulmohar

    January 5, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    Comforting dal…never get tired of this curry 🙂

    Reply
  3. Pavithra

    January 5, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    I always love this combo so tasty, healthy and light. Platter looks so so yummy

    Reply
  4. Dolly

    January 5, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    Easy breazy dal. Looks delish. We all love dal at our place. So healthy and delicious. Love ur dal butterfly.

    Reply
  5. Ms.Chitchat

    January 5, 2010 at 6:03 pm

    Very comforting dish, goes well with rice as well as rotis.A simple yet healthy recipe. Pic looks good too.

    Chitchat

    Reply
  6. Vrinda

    January 5, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    Simple yet tasty curry…cool presentation

    Reply
  7. Balakrishna Saraswathy

    January 5, 2010 at 6:53 pm

    Looks so yummyooo:)

    Reply
  8. kothiyavunu

    January 5, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    easy yummy and healthy dal..perfect with roti..:)

    Reply
  9. Lyndsey

    January 5, 2010 at 11:27 pm

    I love dal and I love easy dishes. This looks so good I'm going to try it tonight! Thanks!

    Reply
  10. PJ

    January 6, 2010 at 2:31 am

    Daal and chapati is my favorite combo! looks delicious and healthy 🙂

    Reply
  11. பித்தனின் வாக்கு

    January 6, 2010 at 3:00 am

    தாலில் கடுகு, எண்ணெய் இல்லை, தாளிக்க வில்லையா. தால் மிக அருமையாக உள்ளது. நன்றி.

    Reply
  12. Renuka Bedre - Rao

    January 6, 2010 at 3:26 am

    Simple and full of comfort!!

    Reply
  13. Tina

    January 6, 2010 at 4:17 am

    Healthy and yummyyyyy..Nice combination with chappathi…

    Reply
  14. Saraswathi Iyer

    January 6, 2010 at 5:17 am

    Dal is perfect n simple.

    Reply
  15. Siddhi Shirsat

    January 6, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    hey ur dal recipe is simple and nice…ingredients used r very gud…i vl try sun

    Reply
  16. Oraphan

    January 10, 2010 at 6:27 am

    Oh Wow! Your Easy Veggie Dal looks fantastic! I love your presentation and the recipe sounds simple to make. What a great idea!

    Thank you for participating in my giveaway, I wish you the best of luck.

    p.s. Please resend the link to this recipe to my 50th post to enter your second chance to win, thanks:)

    Reply
  17. Jia

    February 8, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    Hi Padhu, You have an excellent creativity. And your recipes are awesome. In this recipe, I assume the green chillies are to be added while frying the onions and tomatoes. The dal tastes good even without the chillies. Good job!

    Reply
  18. Anisha Anojish

    January 31, 2012 at 4:30 am

    hai… i tried this recipe.. really yummy combination for chapathy…

    Reply
  19. Anonymous

    May 29, 2012 at 11:45 am

    Nice Presentation and eazy to cook… Thanks padu
    Waiting for your great recipes Sreeni, kerala

    Reply
  20. Radha

    October 11, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    hai..I just started learning cooking..Its a superb blog..Easy to cook…very good Presentation…Really Thanks Padhu..

    Reply
  21. hindu

    October 25, 2013 at 6:49 am

    Hai padhu…the way u clickthe pics reallyvery good yar…i thk u should b awarded first for ur photography also…awesome…keep it up

    Reply
  22. Mamatha

    November 10, 2014 at 9:51 am

    Hi padhu, really beautiful blog, by frequently visiting your blog,it has taken me to the next level in my cooking. Thanx and god bless u.
    Can u pls give me some tips for the spotless and non greasy kadai like yours.

    Reply
  23. anukkan2

    February 6, 2015 at 4:51 am

    Hi Padhu,

    I am an avid reader of your blog and your recipes never let me down.
    I love them for their simplicity and making it look so easy.
    I made this yesterday and my 7 year old loved it and I was so happy !

    Reply
  24. Ramya Mathiraj

    February 2, 2017 at 8:29 am

    Hey padhu, tried tis dal today.. it was superb,tasty tangy… thanks loads..

    Reply
  25. Suganya Ravichandran

    March 23, 2017 at 1:40 pm

    Hi padhu, whats is the need to add lemon juice?? Can it be skipped??

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      March 25, 2017 at 8:12 am

      It is added for a slight tangy taste. You can skip if you do not prefer.

      Reply
  26. Anna Koshi

    May 5, 2017 at 3:38 am

    Delicious dal. Loved it with rice too!

    Reply
  27. Rahul Sharma

    March 28, 2018 at 5:43 am

    Hello, extremely lovely blog, by as often as possible going by your blog,it has taken me to the following level in my cooking. Thanx and god favor u.

    Would u be able to pls give me a few hints for the spotless and non oily kadai like yours.

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      April 2, 2018 at 1:06 pm

      It is already there. Check under useful tips under the heading How to clean burnt kadai

      Reply
  28. Chippy Ramachandran

    May 16, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    Super receipe

    Reply
  29. Unknown

    July 8, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    Thank you very easy to follow less time

    Reply
  30. Unknown

    December 12, 2018 at 10:34 am

    I tried this recipe and it was very tasty.. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.

    Reply

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Meet Padhu, the Chef, the photographer, recipe developer and web designer behind Padhuskitchen which features Simple Indian Vegetarian recipes, healthy recipes, kids friendly recipes, Indian festival recipes, traditional South Indian Vegetarian ...

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