One of the eternally popular dishes served in Indian restaurants the world over!
DAL / LENTILS = COMFORT FOOD
For rainy days or heavy breakfast days, here’s some comfort food we can all relate to. A simple & nutritious meal packed with protein, carbs & healthy fats! All you need is some papad or pickle for accompaniment!
The irresistible aroma of fried garlic wafting through your home will simply engulf your senses and make you hungrier.
For an even more authentic & incredibly restaurant style flavour, simply use the smoking hot charcoal technique or ‘dhungar method’ as shown in the video attached to One Pot Chicken Surprise.
Recipe for Lehsuni Dal Fry – Garlic Tempered Lentils
Ingredients (Serves 4-6 Persons)
- 1/4 cup moong dal, rinsed & soaked for 30 minutes
- ¼ cup masoor dal, rinsed & soaked for 30 minutes
- ½ cup split Bengal Gram lentil / chana dal, rinsed & soaked for 30 minutes
- 2 green chillies, slit
- 2 medium size tomatoes, cut in fours
- 1 tablespoon ginger – garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups water for pressure cooking
- 2 cups hot water
Dry spice powders to be added while cooking the dal
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric / haldi powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder / dhania
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder / jeera
- ¼ teaspoon homemade garam masala powder
For seasoning:
- 2 tablespoons oil / ghee
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera
- 5-7 cloves garlic, sliced
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida / hing
- Pinch of turmeric & chilli powder
- 5-6 curry leaves (optional)
- 1-2 dry red chillies, broken
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
Procedure
- In a pressure cook take the rinsed dals along with 3 cups water, slit green chillies, cubed tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, salt & oil.
- Add in the dry spice powders, give it a good mix and pressure cook for 4 whistles or until cooked. Allow the pressure to reduce by itself.
- Open the cooker & remove the skins of the tomatoes.
- Now churn / mash the dal along with the tomatoes well, allowing for a few chana dal pieces to remain whole. The rest of the lentils should be well mashed.
- Add the 2 cups of hot water & mix well, giving the dal a smooth soupy consistency. It is important to add pre boiling water here to get the perfect consistency.
- Return to flame & allow it to come to a boil on medium flame.
- In the meanwhile, in a small seasoning pan, heat 2 tbsp ghee / oil.
- Add cumin seeds and splutter. Add the hing.
- Quickly add sliced garlic, 1-2 broken red chillies & few curry leaves, if using.
- Turn off the flame. Finally add a pinch of turmeric & chilli powder.
- Stir quickly & add to the pressure-cooked dal mixture and mix well.
- Immediately add 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves on top of the hot seasoning.
- Lehsuni Dal Tadka tastes best when paired with jeera rice.


Oh! learned one vegetarian recipe suitable for Rice, roti, idli & dosa – simply with dal, tomato & garlic added to spices.
I think adding sauted onion & bell pepper (if available) will add still more taste. Anyhow, thank you for sharing! Will surely try sooner!
Regards,
Shanthi
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