Warm, richly spiced, and built for a satisfying meal, Oil free Lentil Soup. Spicy Garlic Dal is a vegan, vegetarian Indian main made with small red onion, large tomatoes, and of garlic in about 50 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 35 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For the sauce:

  • 1/2 small red onion
  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 in ginger
  • 1 hot green chile
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1/4 tsp nigella seeds
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala

For the Lentils:

  • 3/4 cup lentils (Indian or Spanish brown lentils, washed and soaked for 5 minutes)
  • 2.5 cups water
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne

Method

  1. Blend the onion, tomato and all the ingredients for the sauce until smooth. Add to a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until it thickens a bit. Stir occasionally.
  2. Wash the lentils, drain and add to the sauce with water, salt, turmeric, paprika and cayenne. Partially cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until lentils are tender to preference. Cook longer for mushier lentils.
  3. Garnish with cilantro and lemon juice and serve with rice, flatbread, pita bread, crackers etc.

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.