If y’all have been following the Curvyninja train for a little while, you know that we are not a vegetarian household. NO Indian household will ever have the same style of making Dal Fry/Dal Tadka and since I have been making so many meat driven recipes (apologies to all the vegetarian followers) I thought of making my version of Dal Fry that everyone back in Dubai loves, husband loves and everyone that I have ever fed to has loved!

Lentils are almost 30% protein and packed with fiber so they are incredible filling but can also balance blood sugar levels and improve digestion. NEED I SAY MORE? Dal Do Tadka – is what I called it here because I give two tadka/tarka/waghar to it and that is my secret that I am finally sharing with you all.

Pair it with rice, naan, garlic smothered naan, slice of bread or plain cumin rice. It is comfort food in a bowl. Growing up, my mum and I would always have two specific dals with bread – Dal Makhni ( after having a bowl of Dal Makhni and rice of course!) and this Tadka Dal.
So, I made rice for my husband and I chose to have it like how I always did, with bread and onions and chutney!
My Instagram handle – bammbi101 and reach out to me when you make it!

Ingredients –

• Toor Dal – 3/4 cup
• Chana Dal – handful
• Ghee/Avocado oil/Any oil – 4 tbsp
• Asafoetida – pinch
• Red chillies – 2
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Bay leaf – 1
• Garlic – 5 cloves
• Ginger – 1 tsp
• Onion – 1 big
• Tomatoes – 2 small
• Green chillies – 1 small
• Red chilli powder – 3 tsp
• Turmeric – 2 tsp
• Coriander powder – 3 tbsp
• Roasted cumin powder – 2 tsp
• Garam masala – 1 tsp
• Lemon juice – 2 tsp
• Cilantro leaves – 1.5 cup
• Salt – 2 tbsp

Directions –

• Soak both dals in water for 30 minutes.
• In a pressure cooker/Instant Pot add preferred choice of fat (ghee, butter or any kind of oil)
• Once heated, add in cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once seeds to splutter add in the ginger garlic and saute for a minute.
• Add in the roughly chopped onions and green chillies and saute until onions appear soft and pink.
• Add in tomatoes then and red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder and roasted cumin powder and cook until the tomatoes are soft with a lid on and the flame on low heat.
• After 7-8 minutes add in half cup of chopped cilantro leaves and give it a good mix.
• After a minute of stirring add in the soaked dal and salt.
• Add in enough water to cover the dal in the cooker/Instant Pot and put the lid on.
• Keeping the flame between medium and low, cook the dal till about 2 whistles.
• After two whistles, let the dal soak in the masalas and keep it aside.
• After 10-15 minutes, open the lid to see if its roughly mashed, if not, using a potato masher, roughly mash the dal about a couple of times.
• Take a small saucepan and pour in oil/ghee and once hot add in asafoetida, red chillies and chilli powder.
• Once its hot, pour it into the dal and garnish with the remaining chopped cilantro leaves.
• Enjoy it hot with ghee rice or bread (like me!!) and/with naan!