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Dal Tadka Recipe

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups of dried lentils
  • 1 Medium yellow onion diced
  • 2 Medium tomatoes diced
  • 4 Green chili peppers such as serrano, or thai (destemed and cut in half lengthwise)
  • 1 Tablespoon of fresh ginger finely minced
  • 1 Teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • ½ Teaspoon of garam masala
  • 1 Bunch of fresh cilantro finely chopped
  • Salt
  • For the tempering or tadka
  • 4 Tablespoons of neutral oil
  • 8 cloves of garlic chopped into small chunks
  • ½ Teaspoon of cumin seeds
  • 3 to 4 dry chilies de arbol
  • 1 Teaspoon of red chili powder

Instructions

  • Cook the Lentils:  Quickly wash the lentils and then toss them into a big pot along with the onion, tomatoes, green chili peppers, ginger, and turmeric powder.  Then pour 8 to 9 cups of water into this pot and place it over a high heat on a stove top until it reaches a boil. Once it starts to boil, cover the pot and lower the heat so that the pot simmers.  Let this all simmer until the lentils are nice and soft, which should be about 30 minutes to an hour depending on the type of lentils you are using. You will know that the lentils are fully cooked when the mash easily between your thumb and index finger.
  • You can also make this one day ahead of time as it will help the flavors blend a little
  • Mash & finish the dal:  Take the dal off of the heat, and let it cool down for a minute or two.  Then get out a potato masher and mash some of the lentils so that it thickens up.  It’s important that I state that we don’t want to mash all of the lentils, we simply want to mash about 1/10th of them so that the dal thickens up a bit.   At the end add in ½ a teaspoon of garam masala, a couple pinches of finely chopped cilantro, and salt to taste.
  • Make the tempering:  Get out a small pot and add the 4 tablespoons of oil to it.  Then place this pot over a medium low heat so that the oil is hot enough to fry in, but not smoking.  Once the oil has become hot, toss in the cumin seeds and let them lightly fry in the oil for about a minute, stirring constantly.  Then add in the chili de arbol, and garlic, and let them both fry in the oil for about 2 minutes, or until the garlic starts to take on a slightly golden brown color. After you have done this, toss in the chili powder, stir it into the tempering, and quickly take the pot off of the heat.  Finally, pour all of the tempering straight into the dal, and stir it in.