Masoor Dal

Masoor dal is the most common dal cooked in every home of India. Whole
Masoor beans are small round legume that comes in many colors and sizes
and is often referred by children as 'kali dal' (black dal). Masoor lentils contain high level of proteins and dietary fiber. These milder lentils have nutty rich taste and also hold their shape after cooking, but can easily turn mushy if overcooked.

Masoor dal is very easy to make and it is usually served with rice and chapattis. Beside cooking for dal these lentils are used for making snacks,
the most popular snack, Dal Moat is made with masoor dal.

Ingredients for dal:

1    Cup Masoor Dal (lentils)
½   Teaspoon turmeric powder
1½ Teaspoon salt or to your taste
1    Teaspoon sugar (optional)
4    Cups of water

Ingredients for cumin seed tadka: 

1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1   Pinch of asafetida (Hing)
1   Tablespoon vegetable oil

Ingredients for hot chili tadka:

2   Teaspoons crushed red chilies or
       red chili powder
2   Tablespoons melted butter or ghee

Serving for 4

Cooking measurement conversion
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Masoor dal

Crushed Pepper, Butter, Cumin
Seeds, Hing (Asafetida)

Directions for cooking dal:

1. In a pressure cooker add dal and wash, changing water several times until the water appears clear, and then soak dal in 4 cups of water for 30 minutes or longer.

In Pressure cooker add Masoor Dal

Wash Masoor Dal

Soak Masoor Dal in water

Wash and rinse soaked Dal

2. Once Dal is soaked rinse the water out and wash .

3. Add 4 cups of water, Turmeric powder, salt and 1 teaspoon of oil and mix.
When Dal is boiling it creates lot of foam and the foam comes out from
pressure cooker to prevent that it is a good idea to add little oil.

4. Close the lid of the pressure cooker, place the weight on the lid and cook on
medium high heat.

Masoor dal is soaked

Add Water

Add Turmeric powder & Salt & mix

Close the pressure cooker

5 In about 8 to 10 minutes pressure cooker will start steaming, turn the heat down to medium and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Turn the stove off and wait until steam goes down. Different brand of cooker required different time to cook.

6  While dal is cooking prepare the cumin seed tadka and keep it aside. (see
below for tadka direction)

7. Open the pressure cooker. Turn the heat on to medium, with the cooking spoon
    mix Dal well so there are no lumps.

Open the Pressure cooker

With a spoon mix Dal well

8. Let the dal cook for 5 minute, if the Dal is thick then add more water if it is
too watery then cook little longer until you have the desire consistency. Dal
tends to soak water and becomes thick quickly, if not eating immediately
then leave it little watery.

9. If you are going to add sugar and now and mix (optional)

Masoor Lentils become tender

Add sugar and mix

10. Add cumin seed Tadka, cook for another 1 minute, if you have the desired
consistency, turn the stove off.

11. When ready to serve, transfer dal in a serving bowl and pour some hot
chili tadka over dal. (See below for chili tadka)

Add cumin seed Tadka

Masoor Dal is ready

Tips:

1. Use pressure cooker for cooking dal otherwise it takes too long to cook dal.

2. If you wish you can skip any tadka and alter Dal to your taste.

3. If you presoak the dal then you can cut the cooking time.

Directions for cumin seed tadka: (Tadka)

1. In a small pan (tadka pan) add 1 tablespoon oil, cumin seeds and asafetida and fry them for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat or until cumin seeds become dark brown, turn the heat off.

In the tadka pan add oil, Cumin seeds & Hing (Asafetida) and fry

Cumin seeds become brown , Tadka is ready

Directions for hot chili tadka: (Hot oil) (Tadka)

1. In a small pan (tadka pan) heat 2 tablespoons ghee or melted butter add crushed red chilies or red chili powder and fry them on very low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the red chilies fried, turn the heat off.

Add ghee or Butter in the pan

Hot chili Tadka is ready

Variations

Lot of variation could be made by adding different kind of tadkas to dal. Add onion tomato tadka for variation and to in hence the flavor of dal.

Masoor dal with onion and tomato tadka

Onion tadka: (tadka)

Ingredients:

1   Small onion- fine chopped
1   Teaspoon minced garlic (optional)
1   Medium green chili -chopped (remove the seeds and membrane to reduce the
      heat)
1   Medium size ripe tomato-chopped in to small pieces
2   Tablespoons coriander leaves- chopped
1   Tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions for onion tadka:

1. In small pan heat oil, add chopped onions and minced garlic and sauté them
      for 5 minutes or until onions become light brown.

2. Add chopped tomatoes and chopped green chilies and cook, while they are
     cooking keep stirring, with the spatula try to mash tomatoes so that they
     become soft quickly, in about 5 minutes tomatoes become soft and blend
     well with onions turn the stove off.

3. After opening the lid of pressure cooker, mix dal with serving spoon and
     add  onion tadka in the dal, cook for another 5 minutes on medium heat, add
     cumin seed tadka, once tadka's blend well with the dal and you have the
     desired consistency turn the stove off.

4. When ready to serve garnish with coriander leaves and pour some hot chili
      tadka over dal.

Please take the time to let me know what you think about my recipe. Your comments would be helpful to me to improve the recipe.

Thank you

Geeta Seth

Other recipes:

Red split masoor dal (Malika masoor dal)             Moong dal with spinach

Masoor dal kofta                                                     White urad dal

Toor dal (Arhar dal, masala tadka dal)                Trevti dal

Laccha roti                                                           Methi ki roti
(Spiral layered)                                                   (Roti with fenugreek leaves)

Chapati (Pulkha or roti)                                    Boiled white rice