Go Back
Print Recipe

Gujarati Dal

Spicy, tangy and mildly sweet pigeon pea lentils soup tempered with seeds and whole spices!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Boil Dal

  • 1 cup Uncooked Pigeon Pea Lentils
  • ⅓ cup Peanuts
  • ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
  • ¼ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
  • 4 cup Water

Spice up Boiled Dal

  • 1 tsp Red Chili Powder 1¼ tsp if using kashmiri red chili powder
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • ¾ tsp Turmeric Powder
  • 2 tsp Cumin Coriander Powder dhana jiru
  • 1 tsp Garam Malsala
  • 2 tsp Chopped Spicy Green Chilis
  • 1 tbsp Grated Ginger
  • 3 tbsp Jaggery
  • 6-7 Curry Leaves
  • 2 cup Water

Tempering

  • 3 tbsp Avocado Oil
  • 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
  • 1 tsp While Sesame Seeds
  • 3 Whole Dry Red Chili
  • 5 Cloves
  • 5 Peppercorns
  • 1 stick Cinnamon
  • 2 Star Anise
  • ¼ tsp Asafetida
  • 6-8 Fresh Curry Leaves
  • ½ cup Finely Chopped Tomato
  • 1 tbsp Dry Achar Masala, sambhariyo masalo

Garnishing

  • ½ cup Chopped Cilantro
  • 2 tbsp Fresh Lime Juice

Steamed Rice in IP (stove top instructions are in the notes section)

  • 1 cup Long Grain Basmati Rice
  • 1½ cup Water
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 1 tbsp Ghee
  • Squeeze of fresh lime

Instructions

Boil Dal

  • Throughly wash the pigeon pea lentils and sock it for 20-30 minutes.
  • When ready to boil, get rid of all the water. Put socked lentils in Instant pot of Indian style pressure cooker along with 4 cups of water. Add in rest of the boiling ingredients listed under "Boil Dal".
  • If cooking rice at the same time as dal in IP, wash and soak long grain basmati rice for 20 min. Once done, remove all the water. Then add in 1½ cup of water, and other ingredients listed under "Steamed Rice in IP"
  • If cooking rice at the same time as dal in IP, place trivet in the pot along with dal ingredients. Place rice container on top, cover with well fitted stainless steel plate.
  • If using Instant pot, pressure cook on high for 10 minutes, natural pressure release for 10 minutes and rest manual pressure release. If using Indian style pressure cooker, do 5-6 whistles and let the pressure release naturally completely.
  • Once pressure is released, open the pressure cooker, take the boiled peanuts out and keep it on side.

Spice up the dal

  • Add all the dry spices listed above under 'spice up the dal' in the boiled dal along with 2 cups of water, leaving ginger, chili & curry leaves out. Blend it with handy blender. Then add in ginger, chili & curry leaves.
  • mix everything well. If using Instant pot, set it on saute mode and start to boil the dal. If using Indian style pressure cooker, keep it on medium heat and start to boil the dal.
  • Once it comes to boil, let it boil/simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes. Adjust the consistency as needed by adding little water at time. Prepare tempering while it is simmering.

Tempering

  • Heat oil in a small deep pan or in a vaghariyu (special pan for tempering).
  • Once hot, add everything but asafetida, curry leaves, tomato and achar masala listed under "Tempering ingredients".
  • Once all seeds are done popping, add asafetida and curry leaves. Mix well then add in chopped tomato along with achar masala. Mix well and cook on medium heat until tomato starts to soften. Once ready, add the tempering to boiling dal. Mix well. Boil dal for another 5 minutes. The longer is boils/sits the thicket it gets.
  • Add finely chopped cilantro, boiled peanuts and fresh lime juice. Mix well and taste, add additional spices/salt/jaggery/lime juice if needed!
  • Serve it hot with steamed rice (instructions below in the notes section), phulka rotis and subzi/shak!

Notes

Steamed Rice on stove top
  • wash and soak long grain basmati rice for 20 minutes.
  • Place soaked rice in a wide pan that has well fitted cover.
  • Add in 2 cup of water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp of ghee and squeeze of lime.
  • Mix well, bring it to boil.
  • Once boiling, bring the heat to low/medium. Cover with well fitted pot cover. And let it cook until all the water is cooked away to rice looks fully cooked.
  • Once done, turn the heat off, carefully fluff it up with a fork then cover again for couple of minutes.
  • Enjoy it with pipping hot Gujarati dal.