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You are here: Home / Dal Recipes / Yellow Dal / Dal Tadka Recipe / Dal Fry Recipe / How to Make Dal

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

November 23, 2015 35 Comments

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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By nags Filed Under: Dal Recipes, Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes, Uncategorized

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. RMC

    December 31, 2015 at 11:02 am

    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
    • nags

      December 31, 2015 at 11:04 am

      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
  2. Anonymous

    October 31, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    Wow! Tat was an awesome dish. I tried it today and everyone liked it 🙂 Thanks for sharing Nags.

    Reply
  3. Shubha

    August 8, 2012 at 6:56 am

    Dal turned out to be super tasty….thank you! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    July 28, 2012 at 8:50 am

    Thanks for the recipe, I am out of home and this was a life saver for me today.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    May 26, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    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
    • Nagalakshmi V

      May 27, 2012 at 3:31 am

      sounds great! proud of you for persevering through the dal making ordeal 🙂

      Reply
  6. Anonymous

    January 17, 2012 at 9:13 am

    Nice recipe but you should also mention the number of servings in your article .Please reply to this one too

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      January 20, 2012 at 1:33 am

      Sorry about that! This dal tadka recipe will serve 4-6 people.

      Reply
  7. karthik's

    March 27, 2011 at 7:40 am

    Hi Nags,

    nice and simple recipe, was down with a cold and cough, and this felt really good,

    cheers,
    Karthik

    Reply
  8. Nags

    April 1, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    Anon – that's so cool!! Do let me know if you try it and how it turned out for you 🙂

    Reply
  9. Chaitra Bhat

    April 1, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    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
  10. Nags

    February 18, 2010 at 11:03 am

    Thanks so much for that lovely and handy tip for the yellow dal tadka Chaitra 🙂

    Reply
  11. Chaitra Bhat

    February 16, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    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
  12. Nags

    November 9, 2009 at 5:26 am

    Anon – that's so cool!! Do let me know if you try it and how it turned out for you 🙂

    Reply
  13. Anonymous

    November 3, 2009 at 4:22 am

    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
  14. Rajitha

    April 6, 2009 at 9:57 pm

    yum! love dal and rice…but jeeves would never eat dal and rice…he needs sabji in every meal…borrring!!

    Reply
  15. Miri

    April 6, 2009 at 8:14 am

    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
  16. A_and_N

    April 5, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    The word comfort food refers to this 🙂

    Reply
  17. Sophie

    April 5, 2009 at 6:50 am

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

    Reply
  18. Uma

    April 5, 2009 at 5:34 am

    looks yummy! Easy and delicious dal.

    Reply
  19. RAKS KITCHEN

    April 5, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    Feel like eating with hot rice and ghee!! Looks yummy!

    Reply
  20. sharada

    April 4, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    the snap looks just great…feel like having the dal right now…

    Reply
  21. Superchef

    April 4, 2009 at 12:09 am

    my favourite comfort food..dal chawal!!

    Reply
  22. Mahimaa's kitchen

    April 3, 2009 at 7:51 pm

    mostly i make dhal with mung dhal for rotis. yes, it’s a comfort food and tastes great with rice and ghee.

    Reply
  23. Sandeepa

    April 3, 2009 at 6:28 pm

    The dal looks simple and very hearty

    Reply
  24. Indhu

    April 3, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    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
  25. Asha

    April 3, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    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
  26. Soma

    April 3, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    Comfort food. this is exactly how i make it, without the mustard seeds & the amchoor:D

    Reply
  27. Pavani

    April 3, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Great pics. dal is Simple and comforting food.

    Reply
  28. Jayashree

    April 3, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Paired with roti, this is comfort food at its best.

    Reply
  29. Madhumathi

    April 3, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    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
  30. Arch

    April 3, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Dal and Rice – my total comfort food !! Nothing beats it ! Nice recipe, slightly different from the way I make it…

    Reply
  31. Ann

    April 3, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    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
  32. Sharmilee! :)

    April 3, 2009 at 11:53 am

    Dhal is one of my fav either with rice/rotis….I remember this pic in ur angles experiment post.

    Reply

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I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

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