This restaurant-style Dal Tadka recipe is a smooth and creamy lentil dish made with pigeon pea lentils (tur dal), onions, tomatoes and herbs, finished with a tempering of spices like cumin, garlic, dried red chillies, asafoetida and red chilli powder. The dhungar method gives the dal a subtle smoky flavor. It is best served with steamed basmati rice or enjoyed with roti or paratha.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: North Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup or (200 grams) tuvar dal
  • 1 to 2 green chilies (or serrano peppers - chopped or slit lengthwise)
  • ½ cup onions (- chopped)
  • 1 cup tomatoes (- finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger (- finely chopped)
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder ((ground turmeric))
  • ½ teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing), optional)
  • 2.5 cups water (- for pressure cooking)
  • 1 tablespoon light cream (or low fat cream, optional)
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (- chopped, (cilantro))
  • salt (as required)
  • 3 tablespoon oil (or 3 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter))
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 5 to 6 garlic cloves (- finely chopped, small to medium-sized)
  • 2 to 3 dry red chilies (- broken and seeds removed)
  • 1 generous pinch of asafoetida ((hing), optional)
  • 1 teaspoon kasuri methi (- crushed, (dry fenugreek leaves), optional)
  • ½ teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder (or cayenne pepper or paprika)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (- chopped (cilantro))
  • 1 small piece of natural charcoal
  • ¼ teaspoon oil (or ghee (clarified butter))

Method

Cook lentils

  1. Thoroughly rinse tuvar dal (tur dal) in water. Add them to a 3-litre stovetop pressure cooker.You can also cook the lentils in a pot. Soak the lentils for an hour or two before you cook them in a pot adding water as needed.If cooking in a pot, you could add about 3 to 3.5 cups of water.
  2. Add the chopped onions, finely chopped tomatoes, chopped green chillies and finely chopped ginger.
  3. Pour 2.5 cups of water into the pressure cooker.
  4. Add turmeric powder and asafoetida (hing). Mix well.
  5. Pressure cook the lentils on medium to medium-high heat for about 7 to 8 whistles (about 8 to 10 minutes), or until the lentils become soft and creamy.
  6. Let the pressure drop naturally in the cooker and then only open the lid. Check the lentils to see if they have cooked thoroughly and softened.
  7. Mash the cooked lentils with a wired whisk or with a spoon and set aside.
  8. If the consistency looks thick, add about ½ to 1 cup water (depending on the thickness) to get a medium consistency. Mix again and on a low to medium-low heat simmer dal for 3 to 4 minutes.
  9. Once the desired consistency is reached, add the light cream or low-fat cream (optional), garam masala powder, chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) and salt to taste. Turn off the the heat.
  10. Mix well so that everything combines to an even consistency. Taste and adjust salt before adding tadka.

Smoke lentils using dhungar method (optional)

  1. To get the smoky flavor of burnt charcoal like you would in a restaurant, you'll want to follow the dhungar method. Using tongs, place a small piece of charcoal on a grill pan like shown in the photo below. Burn the charcoal until it becomes red hot. Please be sure to use natural charcoal for this method, avoiding anything that has a flame accelerant added. Note that this is an optional step - you can proceed directly to the tempering method.
  2. Place the red hot charcoal in a small steel bowl. You can also use a halved hollow onion instead of the bowl.
  3. Pour about ¼ teaspoon of oil or ghee on the charcoal. You will see fumes emanating as soon as you pour oil or ghee on the hot charcoal.
  4. Place this bowl on the dal.
  5. Cover the cooker or pot with a lid and let the dal get infused. Only smoke for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not keep for a long time, or you'll risk making the dal taste bitter. Remove the bowl carefully with the help of tongs and cover the cooker with a lid. Set aside.

Make the tempering (tadka or chaunk)

  1. Next, heat oil or ghee (clarified butter) in a small pan over low or medium-low heat.
  2. First, add the cumin seeds and crackle them. The cumin should get fried and not be raw, but be careful not burn them.
  3. Next add the dry red chilies, asafoetida, and finely chopped garlic. Let the garlic brown lightly and the red chilies change color. Do not burn the garlic.
  4. Lastly, add the crushed kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) and kashmiri red chili powder or cayenne pepper. Mix well and turn off the stove.

Make Dal Tadka

  1. Pour entire tempering mixture along with the oil or ghee into the prepared dal.
  2. You can either mix the dal with tempering, or serve the dal tadka with the tempering on top of it.
  3. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serving Suggestions

  1. Serve Dal Tadka hot with steamed basmati rice or jeera rice (cumin rice).
  2. You can also enjoy the dal with roti or paratha.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.