Creamy red and yellow lentils are delicately seasoned and topped with browned onions and hot chile pepper in this fat-free version of the classic Indian dish.
Dal Tadka is the dish that made my daughter love Indian food. Years ago, E resisted every time her father and I wanted to go to our favorite Indian restaurant. She wasn’t a big fan of our usual favorites–Baingan Bhurtha, Channa Masala, Aloo Gobi–but once she tried the Dal, she was hooked. That restaurant is now one of her favorites.
The only problem with restaurant Dal Tadka is the oil (or, possibly, ghee). The word tadka or tarka means tempering whole spices, such as mustard and cumin seeds, by frying them in oil to release their flavors. That flavored oil is then poured on top of the dish, the dal (lentils), in this case.
So you can see the problem for a no-added-oil diet. In the past I’ve tried cooking the whole spices in just a touch of oil (1/8 teaspoon in this Masoor Dal) but I’ve always wanted to find a truly fat-free way to get that restaurant dal flavor.
This time, instead of frying the spices in oil, I just cooked them along with the lentils in my Instant Pot and then added browned onions and red pepper to the top. The result isn’t as decadent as the restaurant version, but we found it just as delicious.
I served the dal over brown basmati rice along with a new version of Okra Masala, which I will post soon, as well as E’s other favorite Indian dish, vegetable samosas. Unfortunately, the samosas came from the local Indian grocery and were, I’m afraid, fried, but if you’re looking for a healthy substitute, check out my fat-free samosa wraps.
Fat-Free Dal Tadka
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup split red lentils (masoor dal)
- 1/2 cup yellow moong dal (split mung beans) OR yellow split peas OR additional red lentils
- 3 cups water
- 1 large tomato chopped
- 1/2 large onion chopped, set aside other half
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger root minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt if desired
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala plus more to taste
- 1/2 large onion sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste
Instructions
- Put the lentils, water, and next 7 ingredients (through salt) into a pressure cooker and lock the lid. (See Notes below for regular stovetop cooking.) Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes (on the Instant Pot, select manual and change the time to 10 minutes). Allow pressure to drop naturally for 10 minutes and then do a quick-release.
- Open lid carefully and check to make sure lentils are tender. If not, continue to cook without pressure until lentils are fully cooked. Add garam masala and stir vigorously to make the lentils creamy. It should be a medium consistency, so add a little water if it’s too thick. Keep warm.
- While the lentils are cooking, heat a small non-stick skillet. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown. Add the red pepper flakes and cook until onions are softened and touched with brown.
- Check the seasoning of the lentils and add additional salt and garam masala to taste. Serve over rice and top each serving with the browned onions.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Oh, You Beautiful Dal!
I took inspiration for my dal tadka from these recipes:
- how to make restaurant style dal tadka by Veg Recipes of India
- Dal Tadka by Tarla Dalal
- Dal Tadka: Seasoned Indian Style Lentil Soup by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
- Yellow Lentils with Onion and Garlic from India’s Vegetarian Cooking by Monisha Bharadwaj
Enjoy!
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Joe Rickerson
Thanks for the recipe. I recently started making dals and I love your short cut of just tossing virtually everything in the pot. I doubled up on this recipe and it turned out perfectly. Btw, I used an Oshwawa pot inside the pressure cooker since when I’ve cooked lentils previously in the pressure cooker the foam would spew out of the cooker leaving a mess. My wife would be wiping up places my male eyes could not detect. Cooking this way increased the cooking time to 75 minutes.
daniel
wow!amazing post.thanks for the post
Solidworks
I tried this one Oh so Good ! Ty
Teri of NC
Thank you for the recipe! It was simple and quick in the Instant Pot! And so healthy, too!
Taya
I made this and it was incredibly good. Thank you.
MD Kawsar
Fantastic food. I wanna eat it
rakhiIndia.in
thank you so much for Fat-Free Dal Tadka recipe giving such amazing and luscious recipies… I appriciate your write up.
Nicola
Just made and it came out delicious! So easy. Directions were great!! First time I’m trying one of your recipes and can’t wait to try more.
Susan Voisin
Thanks! I’m so happy you liked it!
Nicola
This is constantly in my rotation as it is so delicious!!
Clayton
Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely try it.
Karle
Rosalind and I recently returned from a trip to Sequim, Washington, we stayed over in Milwaukee, OR, and stopped at Bob’s Red Mill retail store. (We also took the very interesting tour of their packing plant.) I bought a 1-1/2 bag of Chana Dal, which as you know, are Split Desi Chickpeas. This recipe gives me the perfect opportunity to use the Dal. Thanks for the recipe.
Melanie
Made this on Sunday and added mushrooms and peppers (that needed eating) to the onions. It was sooo good.
Amelie
Hi there,
How many cups per one serving?
Susan Voisin
It will vary but a serving size is around 3/4 cup.
Shahena Begum
Fat free somosa maybe not but u could brush a little bit of oil on somosa and bake in the oven that work well .not fat free but certainly cuts down on fat consumption
Lee
I am not a vegan, I found this recipe when searching for low calorie and lentils.
I LOVE THIS and will definitely make it again. So easy in the pressure cooker and very tasty. Perfect for a cold Australian winter night.
I’m inspired to try the other recipes from your website. This recipe is a definite winner.
Lauren C
I made this last night but skipped the last step of onions on top just out of laziness. I also used a can of coconut milk and then water for the remaining cups of liquid. I’m not sure if this made it totally inauthentic but it was delicious! The house smelled amazing and my boyfriend loved it. It was so incredibly easy (and I did it stovetop). This will become a staple for us!
Jen
I made this recipe tonight and we loved it! I didn’t make the onion topping out of time constraints and I added spinach after it was done cooking in the IP. My toddler at first looked at it and said, “I don’t want that.” I told her she had to try it, and so she did. She replied, “I like it!!!” and ate 2 bowls over brown rice. Thanks Susan!