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.
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, cubedTurmeric powder – a pinchAsafoetida / hing – a pinchAmchoor / dry mango powder – 1/2 tsp(if you want it tangy)Sugar – a pinch (optional)Salt – to tasteFor Tempering:Onion – 1/4 cup, chopped fineGarlic – 3 pods crushed (optional)Jeera / cumin seeds – 1 tspDry red chillies – 3 to 4, halvedMustard seeds – 1/4 tspOil – 2 tspFor 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.
RMC says
December 31, 2015 at 11:02 amhello!
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.
nags says
December 31, 2015 at 11:04 amThat’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.
Anonymous says
October 31, 2012 at 7:14 pmWow! Tat was an awesome dish. I tried it today and everyone liked it 🙂 Thanks for sharing Nags.
Shubha says
August 8, 2012 at 6:56 amDal turned out to be super tasty….thank you! 🙂
Anonymous says
July 28, 2012 at 8:50 amThanks for the recipe, I am out of home and this was a life saver for me today.
Anonymous says
May 26, 2012 at 3:10 pmHi!
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…
Nagalakshmi V says
May 27, 2012 at 3:31 amsounds great! proud of you for persevering through the dal making ordeal 🙂
Anonymous says
January 17, 2012 at 9:13 amNice recipe but you should also mention the number of servings in your article .Please reply to this one too
Nagalakshmi V says
January 20, 2012 at 1:33 amSorry about that! This dal tadka recipe will serve 4-6 people.
karthik's says
March 27, 2011 at 7:40 amHi Nags,
nice and simple recipe, was down with a cold and cough, and this felt really good,
cheers,
Karthik
Nags says
April 1, 2010 at 1:28 pmAnon – that's so cool!! Do let me know if you try it and how it turned out for you 🙂
Chaitra Bhat says
April 1, 2010 at 1:28 pmHi 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!! 🙂
Nags says
February 18, 2010 at 11:03 amThanks so much for that lovely and handy tip for the yellow dal tadka Chaitra 🙂
Chaitra Bhat says
February 16, 2010 at 5:00 pmHi 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!! 🙂
Nags says
November 9, 2009 at 5:26 amAnon – that's so cool!! Do let me know if you try it and how it turned out for you 🙂
Anonymous says
November 3, 2009 at 4:22 amThank 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.
Rajitha says
April 6, 2009 at 9:57 pmyum! love dal and rice…but jeeves would never eat dal and rice…he needs sabji in every meal…borrring!!
Miri says
April 6, 2009 at 8:14 amIts 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!
A_and_N says
April 5, 2009 at 4:33 pmThe word comfort food refers to this 🙂
RAKS KITCHEN says
April 5, 2009 at 1:29 pmFeel like eating with hot rice and ghee!! Looks yummy!
Sophie says
April 5, 2009 at 6:50 amI loveit!! I love those Indian flavours! My husband & I cook Indian from scratch from time to time! This looks delicious!!! MMMMMM….
Uma says
April 5, 2009 at 5:34 amlooks yummy! Easy and delicious dal.
sharada says
April 4, 2009 at 2:40 pmthe snap looks just great…feel like having the dal right now…
Superchef says
April 4, 2009 at 12:09 ammy favourite comfort food..dal chawal!!
Mahimaa's kitchen says
April 3, 2009 at 7:51 pmmostly i make dhal with mung dhal for rotis. yes, it’s a comfort food and tastes great with rice and ghee.
Sandeepa says
April 3, 2009 at 6:28 pmThe dal looks simple and very hearty
Madhumathi says
April 3, 2009 at 6:18 pmAll 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!
Indhu says
April 3, 2009 at 5:18 pmsimple 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 🙂
Asha says
April 3, 2009 at 2:13 pmSimple 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! 🙂
Soma says
April 3, 2009 at 2:08 pmComfort food. this is exactly how i make it, without the mustard seeds & the amchoor:D
Ann says
April 3, 2009 at 2:02 pmNags,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
Pavani says
April 3, 2009 at 12:46 pmGreat pics. dal is Simple and comforting food.
Sharmilee! :) says
April 3, 2009 at 11:53 amDhal is one of my fav either with rice/rotis….I remember this pic in ur angles experiment post.
Jayashree says
April 3, 2009 at 10:30 amPaired with roti, this is comfort food at its best.
Arch says
April 3, 2009 at 10:07 amDal and Rice – my total comfort food !! Nothing beats it ! Nice recipe, slightly different from the way I make it…