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Dal Fry (Dal Tadka)
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Dal Fry (Dal Tadka)

Dal Fry is a popular Indian lentil recipe. This recipe uses Toor dal, which is also known as Arhar or Toovar dal. The dal is seasoned with variety of spices and it tastes delicious. This is something you often find served at Indian restaurants and is a part of the main course as part of the servings.
Course dal
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup toor dal, arahar dal
  • 2-1/2 cup water
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1/4 tbsp turmeric

Seasoning  

  • 3 tbsp clarified butter or ghee
  • 1 cup tomatoes chopped I used 3 medium size tomatoes
  • 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
  • 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds (rai)
  • 1/8 tbsp asafetida (hing)
  • 2 whole dry red chili
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp green chili finely chopped adjust to taste
  • 2 tbsp ginger finely shredded
  • 2 tbsp cilantro finely chopped (hara dhania)
  • 1/2 tbsp red pepper adjust to taste
  • 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp mango powder (amchoor)
  • 1/4 tbsp garam masala

Instructions

  • Wash and soak toor dal in approx. 3 cups of water, for at least one hours. Dal will be double in volume after soaking. Drain the water.
  • Put dal with 2-1/2 cups water into a pressure cooker and add salt, turmeric, Cook on medium high heat.
  • When the pressure cooker starts to steam, turn the heat down to medium and cook for five minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and wait until all the steam has escaped before opening the pressure cooker. Dal should be soft. If needed add more water, dal should be consistency of thick soup.

Seasoning

  • Heat the ghee in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away, ghee is ready. Add cumin seeds, and mustard seeds, asafetida, whole red chili. After the seeds crack, add bay leaves, green chili, ginger and chili powder. Stir for a few seconds.
  • Add tomatoes, salt and sugar stir and cook until tomatoes are tender and mushy.
  • Add cilantro, mango powder, and garam masala cook for about one minute.
  • Pour the seasoning over  dal mix it well and cook for another minute.
  • Dal fry is ready, serve this as a main dish with Indian flat bread or I prefer with plain rice.