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Yellow Dal / Dal Tadka Recipe / Dal Fry Recipe / How to Make Dal

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How to make Dal Tadka (Dal Fry)

Dal tadka or dal tarka is one of the easiest and most popular dal recipes in India. It’s usually made with masoor or toor dal and mashed up with rice to make an easy and tasty meal that’s rich in protein and carbs. While every household makes dal tadka differently, the basic ingredients remain the same – dal cooked and mashed, spices added, and tempered. The tempering is the most important part and even lends name to the dish – tadka means tempering in Hindi. 
While this is not a very popular style of making dal in Kerala, I figured this is useful for those who are away from home and looking for a simple dal recipe to satisfy their cravings and comfort their homesickness. 

Yellow Dal / Dal Tadka Recipe / Dal Fry Recipe / How to Make Dal
I had used the pictures of this recipe for one of my photography series posts – angles in food photography. Like I mentioned in that post, sometimes the simplest of dishes can make a great meal, like we enjoyed that weekend. I just wanted to jot down the recipe here for those of you looking for a comforting bowl of yellow dal for your dal chawal.

You may also want to check out other popular dal recipes like jeera dal, dal panchratan, and dal makhani. Browse all dal recipes here.


Yellow Dal / Dal Tadka / Dal Fry / How to Make Dal
Ingredients for Dal Tadka:
Toor dal – 1 cup
(you can also use masoor dal / red lentils)
Tomato – 1, cubed
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Asafoetida / hing – a pinch
Amchoor / dry mango powder – 1/2 tsp 
(if you want it tangy)
Sugar – a pinch (optional)
Salt – to taste
For Tempering:
Onion – 1/4 cup, chopped fine
Garlic – 3 pods crushed (optional)
Jeera / cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Dry red chillies – 3 to 4, halved
Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
For Garnishing:
Chopped fresh coriander leaves (optional)
How to make Dal Tadka:
1. Pressure cook the dal, tomatoes and turmeric powder with 3 cups water. I cook it usually for 4 whistles since it takes longer to cook dal in Singapore. 3 whistles should usually be enough. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, cook in a closed, thick-bottomed pan for about 20-30 mins until the dal is cooked soft. 
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds start to pop and the onions turn transparent, add the cooked dal. 
3. Next, add salt, hing, sugar and amchoor and mix well. If the dal is too thick, add some water. If too watery, let it remain on fire for longer until the desired consistency is reached. 
4. Garnish wtih coriander leaves and serve with steamed white rice, papad and pickles. YUM!
NOTE:
You will see that a lot of ingredients I add are optional. This is because the basic yellow dal recipe is plain and simple with minimum flavours. Customize according to your taste and use just the bare minimum ingredients. It tastes great any which way. Serve hot with rice and and a dollop of ghee. 
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  1. hello!
    dh just bought me an instant pot pressure cooker. so i took to the web for recipes and found your blog. i’m super excited to try several of your recipes. but, also nervous. i’m not a cook. my pressure cooker is not yet my friend and it doesn’t whistle. i have no idea how long to pressure cook things in whistling time! is 3 whistles 10 minutes? 20? is it possible to include “real time” and whistle time? 🙂 thanks so much for sharing your recipes.

    Reply

    • That’s a great suggestion! Congratulations on your new pressure cooker 🙂 The time for 1 whistle will depend on multiple factors like size of pressure cooker and the intensity of heat being used. In that sense, giving whistling time is not a good measure of time at all. I’d say it’s safe to go with 1 whistle = 7 minutes.

      Reply

  5. Hi!

    Thanks for the recipe. I just started cooking on my own and my previous two attempts at making daal were not that great… At least on the taste front.

    So before the third attempt I thought of Googling it out and found your blog among others. Yours was to the point and well done. (I read your "about" page as well.)

    I did tweak the recipe as there were no tomatoes at home. (Nor were many other items on the ingredients list–or if they are here I have no idea about them!) So taking a cue from the mango-powder hint (tangy) an remembering what my Mom said, I just put in two small "pachha maanga" (unripe mango) instead. I did not add onions on the previous two occasions, but did this time. And lo, it tasted more like daal! (May not be very good to others, but for me it was a step forward. 🙂

    So thanks n God bless…

    Reply

  9. Hi Nags,

    Thanks a lot for posting it.
    I hadn't really tried a dal recipe since i'm from south india.
    This one turned out really very yum 🙂

    Mom's tip:
    you can add a drop of oil or ghee while pressure cooking the dal. This will make the dal cook faster!! 🙂

    Reply

  11. Hi Nags,

    Thanks a lot for posting it.
    I hadn't really tried a dal recipe since i'm from south india.
    This one turned out really very yum 🙂

    Mom's tip:
    you can add a drop of oil or ghee while pressure cooking the dal. This will make the dal cook faster!! 🙂

    Reply

  13. Thank GOD I found your recipe! We moved to US one week back and I have not made dal myself before except with my MIL and my baby who is half Indian is 100% Indian when it comes to her taste for food… And I want her to stay that way (she does not even touch french fries and hamburgers etc.). 🙂 Her favourite lunch is dal, rice, various vegetables and papad bread.

    Reply

  15. Its funny isn’t how the dal is transformed into so many different versions, depending on the cook?
    I like my dals to be smooth – so I drain the water after cooking, whisk it and then add the water back. Tempering – my rule is only two or max three ingredients at a time – so if I add cumin and hing, then no mustard. If there’s garlic may omit the hing – that way the dal tastes different every time…

    The amchur you added is something I haven’t done for quite some time now – should go back to it -thanks!

    Reply

  17. I loveit!! I love those Indian flavours! My husband & I cook Indian from scratch from time to time! This looks delicious!!! MMMMMM….

    Reply

  24. All time fav dish..Love your presentation and recipes 🙂
    I tried the white bread today.Came out so well.I’m very happy about the result.Thanks ya!

    Reply

  25. simple and yummy 🙂
    I made a similar kind yesterday – with moong dhal … and was thinking that this is sooo easy and delicious… should make it more often 🙂

    Reply

  26. Simple and elegant dal, love to dip in with Jowar roti. Great photo, I do love that halfway angle, dishes always look good that way. Enjoy and have a great weekend! 🙂

    Reply

  28. Nags,first I thought oh my,where have I seen this picture..haha..then anyway reading you mad ethe relevation..looks awesome as always..I love dal too..I make it minus amchoor usually..lemme try this version too..thank you dear

    Reply
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