Dal Fry (Dal Tadka)

Dal Fry is a popular Indian lentil recipe. This recipe uses Toor dal, which is also known as Arhar or Toovar dal. The dal is seasoned with variety of spices and it tastes delicious. This is something you often find served at Indian restaurants.

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 15 minutes

Serve 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup toor dal, arahar dal
• 2-1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Seasoning  

• 3 tablespoons clarified butter or ghee
• 1 cup tomatoes chopped I used 3 medium size tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
• 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (hing)
• 2 whole dry red chili
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon green chili finely chopped adjust to taste
• 2 teaspoons ginger finely shredded
• 2 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped (hara dhania)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor)
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala

Method

1. Wash and soak toor dal in approx. 3 cups of water, for at least one hours. Dal will be double in volume after soaking. Drain the water.
2. Put dal with 2-1/2 cups water into a pressure cooker and add salt, turmeric, Cook on medium high heat.
3. When the pressure cooker starts to steam, turn the heat down to medium and cook for five minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and wait until all the steam has escaped before opening the pressure cooker. Dal should be soft. If needed add more water, dal should be consistency of thick soup.

Seasoning

1. Heat the ghee in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away, ghee is ready. Add cumin seeds, and mustard seeds, asafetida, whole red chili. After the seeds crack, add bay leaves, green chili, ginger and chili powder. Stir for a few seconds.
2. Add tomatoes, salt and sugar stir and cook until tomatoes are tender and mushy.
3. Add cilantro, mango powder, and garam masala cook for about one minute.
4. Pour the seasoning over  dal mix it well and cook for another minute.
5. Dal fry is ready, serve this as a main dish with Indian flat bread or I prefer with plain rice.

Enjoy!

Originally posted 2015-01-14 18:11:46.

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