Dal Fry - Lentils Curry - Yellow Pigeon Pea & Split Chickpea Curry

Dal (Lentils) is an undisputed staple ingredients of Indian cuisine. Its rich protein content makes it immensely popular option for vegetarians. There are many varieties to prepare Dal but for this post I would like to share my Dal Fry recipe. 


For this recipe I have used a combination of Toor dal (Yellow Pigeon Pea) & Chana dal (Split Chickpea), but you could also make this using just Toor dal only. When it comes to my family Dal is the comfort food. Serve it with Steamed or zeera rice & there is no better dish that it. 

Ingredients:  
¾ cup of Toor dal (arar dal)
¼ cup of Chana Dal
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
2 small tomatoes finely chopped
2-3 green chilies slit vertically (or to taste)
few curry leaves
½ teaspoon of mustard seeds (rai)
½ teaspoon of cumin seeds (zeera)
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1 teaspoon red chili powder (or to taste)
1 teaspoon cumin seed powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon garam masala powder (or to taste)
juice of half lemon (or to taste)
few coriander leaves finely chopped
salt to taste
1 tablespoon oil for cooking

Method: 

• Wash the toor dal & chana dal & then cook in 4-5 cups of water with salt & asafoetida. You can cook this dal in a pressure cooker (as I did) or  in open vessel.
• In pressure cooker, give about about 4-5 whistles & switch off the gas. Open the pressure cooker only once the steam has gone away completely. Keep this cooked dal aside.(The water & cooking time requirements are what work for me but every dal (just like rice) may have different cooking time & water needs so adjust based on what works best for you. )