Toor dal or tur dal is also known as pigeon pea is a commonly prepared dal recipe across the households in India and even more common and popular in Uttar Pradesh. Dal recipe is a staple food of Indians. I still remember as a child I was always served some dal for dinner, be it arhar dal, chana dal, masoor dal, moong dal or urad dal. My mother used to prepare different dals recipes for dinner and serve with some side dish and rice and chapati.
Toor dal is prepared differently in different parts of India. In South India, it is used for a variety of sambhar and rasam recipes. Arhar dal is also used to make dal fry or dal tadka recipe. When on the go I make arhar dal this way. In Uttar Pradesh, arhar dal is a daily thing. It is more flavorful than the way it is generally prepared. Although toor dal is prepared without onion and garlic ingredients such as tomatoes, ginger, add a lot of flavor. The flavorsome tempering adds to the taste of tur dal. Lemon juice and sugar balance all the flavors
Dal recipes, be it moong dal, chana dal, or masoor dal, will be that good as good the dal itself. Therefore always choose good quality dal for the dal recipes. Generally, dal recipes are about cooking the dal in the pressure cooker and then tempering it with the desired ingredients. Let’s have a look at the ingredients for this recipe:
Toor Dal/Tur Dal: Dal should be properly washed and soaked for 30 minutes or so. I use a pressure cooker for my dal recipes. Pressure cooker cooks the dal properly and quickly.
Tomatoes, green chilies: Chopped tomato and green chilies are added while pressure cooking the dal. These get mushy and well incorporated in the arhar dal.
Ginger, lemon juice, sugar: After pressure cooking the dal, few contrasting ingredients are added which add so much flavor to the toor dal recipe.
Tempering: Mustards seeds and red chilies are common tempering ingredients for arhar dal recipe. However, in this recipe, fenugreek seeds and fennel seeds have also been used.
Just like my mom, I too make sure to include a dal recipe for one meal of the day. On weekends I prepare dal fry recipe or dal tadka recipe. During the weekdays I prepare quick and easy whole masoor dal or moong dal etc.
Serve toor dal with steamed rice and chapati for a weekday dinner.
1.This recipe serves 4-6 persons.
2.In a pressure cooker add 1 cup of soaked tur dal. Further add 1 chopped tomato, 1 chopped green chili, salt to taste and ½ inch ginger piece chopped.
3.Also add 2 cups of water.
4.Pressure cook on high flame till one whistle. Thereafter reduce the flame and cook the dal on low flame for 10-12 minutes. Or till dal is soft and mushy.
5.Mash up the cooked dal. It will be thick as this moment. At the time of serving add in boiled water as per the desired consistency.
6.Next add ½ inch piece of ginger, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp powdered sugar, ¼ tsp turmeric powder and juice of ½ lemon.
7.Add 1 cup of water. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
8.Prepare the tempering. Heat 2 tbsp of ghee or clarified butter. Add ¼ tsp asafetida (heeng), ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds (dana methi), ½ tsp fennel seeds (saunf), 1 tsp mustard seeds (raie). Let it crackle. Add 2 dry red chilies. Cook for 30 seconds.
9.Check and adjust the consistency of the dal. Add prepared tempering to the dal.
10.Cover the lid and cook on low flame for 5 minutes.
11.Garnish with coriander leaves.
12.Serve hot. Bon appétit!
PREP TIME 10 minutes + 30 minutes soaking time
COOK TIME 30 minutes
TOTAL TIME 40 minutes + 30 minutes passive time
To pressure cook arhar dal
Other ingredients
To prepare the tempering:
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