This is probably the most famous lentil dish coming out of India—yellow lentils tempered with spices and the usual holy trinity of garlic, ginger and chile. It has always been a favorite of mine and it would grace our family dinner table at least once a week when I was growing up. There are lots of different recipes for flavoring the oil (tadka), so play around with your spice pantry and see what you come up with. If you don’t have half of these spices, then don’t worry; just add a tablespoon of your favorite spice paste and it will taste just as delicious.
Recipe information
Total Time
1 hr
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Gently boil the lentils in a large saucepan of cold water (around 4 cups will do) and stir in the turmeric and black cardamom pods (if using)—this will add a subtle smoky flavor. Allow to cook for around 45 minutes, or until the lentils have softened and started to break down. Skim off any foam that sits on the top and give the lentils a stir every now and again in case they begin to stick on the bottom. If they boil dry, add more water.
Step 2
Once the lentils have softened, turn down the heat and make the tadka. Gently heat the oil in a skillet and add the cinnamon sticks, green cardamom pods and cloves. When the cardamoms have turned white and the heads of the cloves have swollen, you are ready to stir in the mustard and cumin seeds. When they are sizzling, stir in the scallions, chiles, garlic and ginger.
Step 3
After a minute, stir through the tomatoes and turn off the heat. Pour the tadka into the dhal so that it floats on top. This is the traditional way to serve it, with the scented oil sitting on top, but I prefer to stir it through. Season with salt, sugar and lemon juice. Finally, stir through plenty of chopped cilantro and serve with some rice or fresh bread for the ultimate comfort food.
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Reviews (13)
Back to TopA wonderful filling and nutritious with bursts of punchy flavours. I followed the recipe and did not change anything. This makes a sustainable vegetarian main dish and pairs wonderfully with the chickpea flour crepes also found on Epicurious.
mel1710
Manchester, UK
4/27/2019
How important is the sea salt to the recipe? I'm on a very low sodium diets and need to track the amount. But the recipe looks delicious!
Anonymous
Columbus, OH
5/2/2018
You're better off putting the cloves in cheesecloth unless you want to ruin a tooth while eating. And the cilantro is a non-starter for this "tastes-like-soap-gene" cook. Otherwise, this is fabulous.
jture
2/26/2018
This is absolutely my go-to dal recipe. So flavorful. I keep it pretty close to the recipe as written, subbing in spices here and there depending on what I have. Sometimes I sub in coconut milk for some of the water when cooking the lentils. I add fresh curry leaves to the lentils if I have them. I've never put in any sugar. I cook Indian vegetarian a lot and have access to the amazing spice store Kalustyans so I have this stuff on hand - even got the black cardamom! As far as the complaints about the recipe - a clove is a clove and a clove of garlic is a clove of garlic. Made sense to me. And you can pull the larger spices out of the spice oil if you want - definitely leave in the mustard & cumin seeds though, those make it delicious.
rubyclaire1
NYC
7/18/2017
I have made this several times, and it is one of our favourite dishes (even for my husband, who is a redneck bacon-and-eggs type carnivore.) Definitely heed the advice of CThutt - and...it does appear that the angry mistakes below are moreso due to skill level or reading comprehension. If it confuses you, just take another read through. I check back on my recipes constantly, especially if they're new to me.
bearmayor
Prince George, BC
7/13/2017
I had to weigh in on this recipe so people who are about to try cooking their first pot of dhal will not be discouraged by the negative reviews. This is absolutely delicious and I have been making dhal this way, varying the spice mixture and the type of lentils, for over 40 years. Lentils cooked this way are part of a traditional Indian meal that has no counterpart in Western food culture. It's different. The essence of Indian cooking is the use of spices in combination that season the food. Many Indian dishes begin by flavoring the oil with spice mixtures in which the solid food will be cooked. Dhal, on the other hand, pours the flavored oil and spices over the cooked lentils. That flavored oil is the "secret sauce" of a delicious and healthy dish of dhal. About those whole spices: No, don't eat the big stuff. Push it to the side of your plate. The tiny spices, like the mustard seeds and cumin seeds, Yes; eat those. Spices have many healthful benefits and aid digestion. About the oil and burnt garlic: Heat the oil gently, hard spices first to release their oils into the vegetable oil, then a gentle and quick hand with the soft stuff (garlic, ginger, tomatoes). You don't want to burn this, just sizzle it into the oil and pour it over your lentils. Vegetable oil is fine, but if you want a real taste treat, cook those spices in ghee (clarified butter). Amazing taste treat! If you love Indian food, please try this. It is really good and good for you.
cthutt
North of Napa
5/2/2017
This recipe just doesn't pan out on many levels. Why would you instruct someone to pour oil containing whole cloves, whole sticks of cinnamon and cardamom pods into their food? Just so they'll have to dig them out before eating? You wouldn't want to chomp down on any of those things, now would you? And the cooking instructions for the yellow lentils are highly suspect, too. You're cruisin' for burnt lentils. Luckily, I know enough about Indian food to figure out what this recipe is supposed to be about, but this could REALLY screw up novice cooks. The only thing I can figure out is that this was badly translated from its native language and lost a lot along the way. Clean it up, Epi. And DO fix your print function.
worldbeat
Oakland, CA
6/16/2016
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