This beginners recipe will help you make a delicious and quick toor dal. It can be eaten on its own or with rice, millets, quinoa or flatbreads like roti and plain paratha.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup toor dal (/ arhar dal (190 grams split skinned pigeon peas))
  • 2 cups water (to pressure cook (480 ml) + 1 cup (240 ml) more to adjust)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • 2 tablespoons ghee or oil ((30 ml))
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds ((optional))
  • ¾ to 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 to 3 dried red chilies ((broken))
  • ¼ teaspoon hing ((asafetida, optional))
  • 1 sprig curry leaves ((optional))
  • 3 (1 tablespoon) garlic (cloves chopped (+ ½ inch ginger grated or minced - optional))
  • 1 to 2 green chili (slit or chopped (optional))
  • 1 cup (2 medium) tomatoes ((150 grams, chopped, peel & deseed if u want))
  • ½ teaspoon red chili powder ((use Kashmiri/byadgi for low heat))
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt ((more to adjust))
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (fine chopped - optional)

Method

How to cook Toor dal

  1. Add toor dal to a strainer and rinse under running water, rubbing with your fingers. Drain completely & add to a bowl. Pour fresh water and add turmeric. Place the bowl in the cooker and cover the bowl & cooker. (no cooker? check recipe notes)
  2. Pressure cook on a medium flame, for 3 whistles in a stovetop cooker or in an instant pot for 10 mins. When the pressure drops, open the lid.
  3. Mash the cooked toor dal lightly with the back of a ladle or a masher or a whisk, until the dal looks thick and creamy without water separation. Add ¾ cup hot water (if pressure cooked) to bring to a consistency.

Temper

  1. Heat ghee or oil in a small pan and add mustard, cumin & red chili. When the seeds begin to pop, add hing, curry leaves, ginger, garlic & green chili.
  2. Fry until the garlic smells aromatic, for a minute or 2. Add red chili powder, tomatoes & salt. Cook until the tomatoes break down and become mushy.
  3. When you see fats separating from the tomatoes, pour ¼ cup water and cook until the water evaporates. Transfer this to the toor dal and mix well. Add coriander leaves if you like. Adjust salt to your preference.
  4. Sprinkle lemon juice if you want and serve toor dal hot with rice or roti. Store the leftovers in the refrigerator for 2 days. Reheat until bubbling hot with a splash of water.

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.