Basic Cooking: Arhar Dal - Toor Dal Recipe

Hello foodies,

I bring another simple but healthy lentil/dal recipe for you. Arhar dal is eaten throughout India in different forms, one of the most versatile lentils. It is eaten as such in north India and primarily as Sambhar in southern parts of India. Today, I am making the north Indian version of the lentil, which is very simple yet tasty and will sure bring to mind the childhood memories for most of you. So let's begin...

Ingredients (you will need):

Arhar Dal - 1 cup
Salt, to taste
Red Chilli Powder, 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder, 1/4 tsp
Amchoor Powder/Khatai/Dried Mango Powder, 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder/Heeng powder, a pinch
Ghee/Clarified butter, 1 tablespoon

Cooking steps:

1. In a pressure cooker, heat the ghee and add asafoetida powder and cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle, will take around 10 seconds.

2. Next add, the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, and amchoor/khatai powder. Saute the spices for another 10 seconds or so.

3. Add the washed dal with enough water to cover the dal in the pressure cooker, around 2 cups water for 1 cup of dal. At this point add the salt as per your taste. Next, put the lid with whistle on the pressure cooker and cook the dal on high flame till one whistle and then on low flame for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes switch off the flame and let the steam escape from the cooker on its own, may take 5-10 minutes.

4. The dal is ready for you to savour with rice/rotis.

Hope you like this recipe, do let me know how it turned out for you!

Bon Appetit!