Dal Fry

(from Nandini’s recipe box)

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves 4 people

Categories: daal

Ingredients

  • For the Base
  • 1 cup Pigeon Peas (Toor,Tuvar Dal) see Tips
  • 1/4 tsp Turmeric
  • 3 cups Water
  • For the Tempering
  • 2-3 tbsp Ghee, see Tips
  • 1 small-medium Onion (about 1/2 cup), chopped
  • 1 med-large Tomato, chopped
  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1-2 Dried Red Chilies, or to taste see Tips
  • 2-3 Cloves
  • 1 inch grated Ginger
  • 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
  • Curry Leaves and Cilantro to garnish
  • Lemon Juice to taste
  • Salt to taste

Directions

  1. Tips

  2. Pigeon Peas: Different recipes for Dal Fry use different type of Dal. You can use any lentil of your choice – be it Red Lentils (Masoor dal), Skinned Split Green Gram (Moong Dal), Bengal gram (channa dal). I personally use Pigeon peas for this recipe and Red lentil for Dal Tadka. Growing up on Dal rice which is basically cooked pigeon peas mixed with steamed rice and ghee spells comfort to me and this Ghee + dal combo for this recipe reminds me of those days. Hence the preference for this type of dal.

  3. Ghee: If you are trying to recreate that Restaurant touch, then I would suggest going for more generous serving of Ghee, say to the likes of 4-5 tbsp. Or if you are really against the usage of Ghee, then use vegetable oil or oil-ghee in 50-50 ratio. But personally for me, Ghee is the main factor which spells this dish as “Dal Fry”. Without the Ghee, its just plain Tadka Dal.

  4. Red Chillies: You can also use regular Green chillies as per your taste.

  5. Method

  6. 1

  7. Wash the lentil in cold water. Drain well.

  8. You can either soak the lentil in water for 1-2 hours and then cook over stove top or simply use a pressure cooker. If you are planning the soak and cook method, I would suggest using the water used for soaking for cooking too. Simply add additional water while cooking the lentils. The amount of water for cooking depends on the consistency you like. Start with 2-1/2 to 3 cups for cooking and then add more later if required. I used a pressure cooker to cook my dal with turmeric and 3 cups water.

  9. About 3 whistles or 10 minutes of cooking should be sufficient.

  10. While the lentils are cooking, heat a pan. Add Ghee, then cumin, cloves, chillies, ginger, onion and then salt.

  11. When the onion starts sweating (becomes soft), add the tomatoes and asafoetida. When the tomato is cooked, add the garnish. Set aside.

  12. Remove the lentils from the pressure cooker. The lentil should be cooked completely. Mushy is good.

  13. Give it a good stir. If required, warm some more water and add it to the lentils.

  14. Add the fried onion -tomato mixture to the lentils

  15. Stir to combine. Add lemon juice to taste

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