Dal is a common Hindi name given to dry pulses or lentils. It is the most affordable, protein-rich comfort food across India especially in the North similar to Sambar in the South. Dal is the one side dish that you are guaranteed to find in every Indian restaurant. Various cuisines go with different names due to the ingredients used or style of cooking such as plain yellow dal, the popular dal makhani, dal fry, Gujarati sweet dal, Gujarati spicy dal, Punjabi dal tadka, panchmel dal and Andhra style pappu served with steamed rice or rotis. Dal Mastani is a chana dal dish, a fantastic source of protein (especially for vegetarians). Let’s dive in…

What is Dal Mastani

Dal Mastani is a Mughlai style chana dal recipe seasoned with onions, tomatoes and a bunch of spices that are available in every pantry. I’ve named this Dal Mastani (Mastani = lover in Hindi) in honor of my family’s love for dal, and specifically this chana dal recipe.

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What you will need to make Dal Mastani

Ingredients

Note: 1 cup = 235 ml

For dal

1. 1 cup chana dal
2. ¼ cup split yellow moong dal
3. 4 cups water (+2 addl. cups for pot-in-pot method)
4. ¼ tsp turmeric

For seasoning

1. 2 Tbsp. ghee
2. 1 tsp. mustard seeds
3. 1 tsp. cumin seeds
4. 1 serrano green chili or (4 regular green chilies)
5. 2 inch ginger, diced
6. 2 pods garlic
7. 1 medium size onion, finely chopped
8. 2 medium tomatoes, diced
9. ¼ tsp turmeric
10. Salt to taste (I use 1¾ tsp. salt)
11. 1 tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder
12. 2 Tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped

Equipment

1. Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker
2. Medium size fry pan / wok
3. 1 flat ladle

A note on key ingredients

Chana dal also known as Bengal gram in English, Kadalai Paruppu in Tamil, and Chenaga Pappu in Telugu, is one of the most protein rich pulses. It is one of India’s leading crops and used in cuisines across the Indian subcontinent. These are hulled (de-skinned) and do not need to be pre-soaked before cooking. You can substitute this with Toor/Arhar dal, Moong dal or Masoor dal depending on availability

Seasoning dal varies by region. While this recipe is inspired from Mughlai cuisine, feel free to play with any combination of spices and herbs to make it your own

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How to prepare Dal Mastani – An Overview

Making any dal involves only two steps – cooking the pulses with a hint of turmeric, and seasoning it with your choice of spices & herbs

Tips before you begin

📝 While dal can be cooked using any method, such as pressure cooker or open pot on stove top, the latter requires more time and water. I’ve found that apart from speed, pressure cooking yields more consistently well cooked dal which is important to have before you season it

📝Dal tastes best when seasoned with pure ghee and not oil. If you wish to make a batch, please look at my home made ghee recipe. However if you have dietary restrictions or vegan, use a flavorless oil such as Avocado oil.

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How to make Dal Mastani – Instructions with step-by-step images

Cook Chana Dal

Step 1 – Rinse 1 cup chana dal and ¼ cup split yellow moong and transfer to a stainless steel or Pyrex bowl. Add 2 ½ cups water and ¼ tsp. turmeric to the dal and using pot-in-pot method set it inside a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. In either case, add 2 cups water to the inner pot in order for it to steam. Set the Instant Pot on manual high for 6 minutes. If using a regular pressure cooker, cook for 4 whistles.

Step 2 – Open the Instant Pot / pressure cooker after the pressure releases naturally and using a ladle, gently mix and mash the cooked chana dal. This is an important step when making any dal or sambar as the acidic nature of tomatoes or tamarind that we will add in the following step will make the pulses tough and mashing at that point will not be easy

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Seasoning

Step 3 – Take 1 serrano green chili or 4 regular green chilies, 2 inch ginger and 2 pods garlic to make a paste and set aside

Step 4 – Set a flat bottom pan on medium heat, add 2 Tbsp. ghee. When the ghee is hot, add 1 tsp. mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Now add 1 tsp. cumin seeds and crackle

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Step 5 – Add finely chopped onions (I use one medium yellow onion), and the chili-ginger-garlic paste from Step 3 and cook for a minute until the aroma of ginger and garlic fills the air. Make sure you don’t burn or brown them

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Step 6 – To this add 2 diced tomatoes, ¼ tsp. turmeric, and salt to taste (I use 1¾ tsp. salt). Continue to cook until the tomatoes start to wilt

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Step 6 – Add the remaining 1½ cups water, cooked dal from step 2, 1 tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder, and bring it to a frothy boil stirring occasionally to avoid dal from sticking to the bottom of the pan

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Step 7 – Turn off the heat, add 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and enjoy your sublime Dal Mastani in your next meal 😋

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What to serve with Dal Mastani

Dal Mastani is typically served with steamed Basmati rice, or on the side with Indian flat breads such as roti / paratha. You can also simply have it by itself just like any other lentil soup

How I learnt about this recipe 

For any Indian chef, learning to cook dal is as foundational as learning your ABCs. Arhar dal or toor dal and yellow split moong dal are more popular in South India where I am from and chana dal was more common in the North. For South Indians like me, dal is typically a dish whose main role is to become an ingredient for another dish like Sambar or Rasam. Of course, we definitely enjoyed North Indian style dal at restaurants and I particularly enjoyed the dal fry that my dad used to make. However, other dishes usually gain more prominence when discussing Indian recipes so we were naturally intrigued when a few of our friends at a dinner party in Houston raved about the chana dal in a nearby restaurant that we had not been to. We wanted to know more and then heard something that was completely unexpected. Our friends cautioned us about the strange yet recurring news of theft at homes of folks who dined there. The rumor mill was abuzz that apparently some criminal elements watched families go into the restaurant, used the license plate information of their cars, and got their accomplices to burgle the family’s house while they were out. We really wanted to try out the dal but also did not want our house ransacked. So we did the next best thing – we got it delivered via UberEats. And my god, was it worth it! Among their many delicious items, the Dal definitely stood out and after a couple of attempts (to get the right proportion of chana and moong dal) I was able to get close enough to recreate the simple magic at home. And in case you’re wondering, the rumors were true because one of the friends who mentioned this to us fell victim a few weeks later! The sacrifices we all have to make for some simple, yet sublime Dal!

Related Recipes

Poricha Kootu

Keerai Molagootal

Onion Sambar

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Recipe Card – Dal Mastani

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