In our house, dal is the sound of a kitchen settling in for the evening. The word means two things at once — the dried split pulses themselves, and the gentle, simmered dish they become — and it is the daily protein at the heart of Indian home cooking, the pot a family returns to without ceremony. What lifts it is the finish: a tadka (also called chaunk) of whole spices bloomed in hot ghee and poured over the pot just before serving, so the kitchen fills with the crackle of cumin and garlic right as the bowls come out.
At a glance
- Prep
- 10 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins
- Total
- 40 mins
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas), or yellow moong dal
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3 cups water, plus more as needed
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 dried red chillies
- A pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped (optional)
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 green chilli, slit lengthwise
- 1 tomato, chopped
- Salt
- A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
- A squeeze of lemon
Method
- Rinse the dal in several changes of water, then tip it into a pot with the turmeric and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam, and simmer until the dal is completely soft and beginning to collapse, 20-25 minutes. Mash lightly with the back of a spoon.
- Season the dal with salt and keep it warm over the lowest heat while you make the tadka.
- Heat the ghee in a small pan. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dried chillies and asafoetida, and let them crackle and pop for about 30 seconds.
- Add the onion (if using), garlic and green chilli, and cook until the garlic is golden at the edges and the kitchen smells of it.
- Add the tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes until it softens into the ghee.
- Pour the hot tadka over the dal and stir — it should sizzle as it lands. Finish with the coriander and a squeeze of lemon, and serve with rice or roti.
Sources
Music to cook to
Dal wants a calm, lamplit evening. We set ours to the slow, unhurried side of the playlist — the tempo of a table that has stopped checking the time. Listen to the paired playlist
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Cloth, brass and a little candlelight — the rest of this table lives in our Indian home decor.