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Fat-Free Dal Tadka

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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.

Easy Fat-Free Dal Tadka

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.

Easy Fat-Free Dal Tadka

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
4.91 from 11 votes
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Fat-Free Dal Tadka

All of the heat is in the onion topping, so if you’d like your dal spicier, add as much red pepper as you like while the lentils are cooking.
Course Main Course
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 129 kcal
Author Susan Voisin

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Recipe Notes

If cooking without a pressure cooker, bring ingredients red lentils through salt to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan, reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook until lentils are soft, stirring often and adding water if they start to get too dry. Different types of dal take different amounts of time, so allow at least 30 minutes. Proceed with the final three steps.

Nutrition Facts
Fat-Free Dal Tadka
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 129
% Daily Value*
Sodium 204mg 9%
Total Carbohydrates 22.7g 8%
Dietary Fiber 6.4g 26%
Sugars 1.7g
Protein 9g 18%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Creamy red and yellow lentils are delicately seasoned and topped with browned onions and hot chile pepper in this fat-free vegan version of the Indian dish.

Oh, You Beautiful Dal!

I took inspiration for my dal tadka from these recipes:

Enjoy!

Susan

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy something through them, I receive a commission that helps support this site. Thanks for your purchase!

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Comments

  1. I always wanted to try india food, but no one in my family likes “exotic food”. I just love the array of spices! This recipe looks delish! Are split mung beans something that typical grocery stores sell, or would I need to go to an international grocery store or Whole Foods? Thanks!

    Reply

  2. This sounds really good, Susan! I love dals, and it’s neat to have an oil-free way to approach this dish. The browned onions on the top look tasty too. The photo showing the red pepper flakes is just gorgeous!

    xo

    moonwatcher

    Reply

  3. This looks absolutely delicious and I’d love to give it a try. However, I do not have a pressure cooker. Do you know the cooking time/steps for either a slow cooker or stove top? Thanks so much!

    Reply

    • The stovetop directions are in the Notes section of the recipe. For slow-cooking, my guess is 4 hours on high or 8 on low–but that is just a guess. With either method, you may need to add extra water because not much water is lost during pressure cooking.

      Reply

  6. Thanks for the recipe, as I love Dal too! I usually “toast” my spices in the saute pan without oil, just stirring frequently on low-med heat for a few minutes till lightly brown and fragrant, then add them in – it seems to take away the bitterness of raw spices and bring out more flavor.

    Reply

  7. I love, love, love dals, too. The homemade ones are what got me hooked onto Indian food and I haven’t looked back. I am curious to try your no-oil version because I have never found a no-oil version that was very good. Even just a tablespoon of oil for the tarka is plenty to make the dish sing, and to be honest, I don’t shun oil in that small amount anyhow.

    Reply

  8. Yum! Like E, dal is by far my favorite Indian dish. Any idea on how much ground cumin to use in place of the cumin seeds? I know I should just get cumin seeds, but I really want to make this and have ground cumin on hand!

    Thanks!
    Courtney

    Reply

  9. I was feeling uninspired for dinner tonight. I was going to make that kale and black bean salad but I had no canned beans and wasn’t excited to prepare dried beans. Then I checked your site again and you updated with this and I had all the ingredients! It is amazing! My 9 year old claims she dislikes it but she ate it all, and the the year old gobbled it down. I adore it and will definitely put this in the rotation.

    Reply

  10. I swear you are my most favorite food blogger lately. I cook from your blog about 90% of the time and everything we make is so good! I was just thinking, “I wonder if Susan has any Indian recipes on her site” because I got a new Indian cook book and of course, she uses too much oil. Then, this recipe shows up in my inbox. We love Indian food and I can’t wait to try this.

    Reply

  11. We had this for dinner tonight delicious! I added lots of broccoli for nutrition, served it over black rice and it looked beautiful too. As usual, thanks very much, Susan.

    Reply

  14. I frequently make the dal part of your cauliflower dal. It stands well on its own even without the rest of the recipe and is so simple it practically cooks itself. Since that one is a favorite way of fixing red lentils around here, I figured this one would be even better. And I was not disappointed! The flavor is lovely. Thanks again Susan

    Reply

  16. This looks delicious. I promised my husband I’d make dhal next week (he asks for it nearly every day when I ask him what he wants for dinner!) and this looks different enough to my usual version to keep things interesting! We are trying to eat less fat and salt at the moment too.

    Reply

  17. I was just at the Indian market stocking up on dals yesterday-I must try this!

    Malvi Doshi, in her wonderful book “Cooking Along the Ganges,” suggests that for oil-free tempering dry spices be dry toasted over low heat briefly until fragrant (with a lid if using mustard seed as it pops). Once toasted, she adds a little water and cooks the spices in the water for one minute before adding the wet ingredients.

    I’m still experimenting, but so far it works for me. Whole dried chiles are fine this way, but don’t toast red chile flakes too long or they get really hard. All other dry spices, whole or ground, have worked well for me so far.

    Reply

  19. Looks delish! I cook my first homemade Indian food with one of your recipes about 5 years ago. Thanks for getting me started.

    Reply

  20. Any ideas for leaving the tomato out? My husband has a sensitivity to them . . . would leaving it out change the recipe too much? any substitution ideas?

    Reply

  21. This is so good! I used a can of diced tomatoes drained instead of fresh because that’s what I had. I also added some fresh spinach at the end. Totally love it! So much that I can’t wait to make it again. My husband loved it too. He’s been to India twice in the last two years for work and claims that it tasted almost like “real Indian food”. I take that as a compliment. Thanks for another great recipe. We’ve been following your blog for a few years now and have liked every recipe we’ve tried.

    Reply

  22. I do enjoy Indian food but it is so full of fat when eaten at a restaurant so I really appreciate you figuring out how to make dishes like this at home without all the fat. Your recipes are always fool proof and I love that!

    Reply

  24. This looks so yummy, I’ve always wanted to make dal but didn’t want the oil. Do you the this would work with Chana dal as well? I’m out of red lentils!

    Reply

  25. This was CRAZY good. Already thought I had an amazing dal recipe, but this topped it hands down. Thanks! New staple for me 🙂

    Reply

  27. Thanks so much for posting this. I love restaurant dals, but I shudder to think what’s in them that makes them taste so good.

    I made this last night and it was really good. Had to use split yellow peas, and served it over brown basmati rice. Definitely a keeper! Hard to believe it was so tasty and yet still fat free. Yum!

    Reply

  29. wow..Susan you made me to go through your recipes by recipes, a best fusion Indian food blog. We, on the other hand, trying out fusion Oriental food. A beautiful cultural exchange is going on between the food bloggers. Love your blog susan 🙂

    Reply

  31. This was a huge hit! My hubby was not so sure about it but he ended up finishing it up! Delish and looking forward to making again!! I served it with stuffed pabolo peppers and roasted okra!

    Reply

  32. OMG Susan, this is to die for, thank you so much! The only thing it left me wanting was MORE ONION to put on top! It was so creamy and full of flavor that my husband had seconds (which really says a lot for Mr. Meat Eater). You had me humming Oh, You Beautiful Dal all day!

    Reply

  35. Made this dish for dinner tonight…. delicious!!! Really glad I discovered your site. I love that your dishes are flavorful and healthy.

    Reply

  37. I made this dish today and it’s great! I love Indian food, but hardly eat it because of the amount of fat and calories in it. It was nice to have the flavors and spices without all the bad stuff 🙂 Thanks for this recipe and your site in general!

    Reply

  38. This is so delicious! This is my second time making it now (the rice cooker has already popped, and the pressure cooker is depressurizing as I type). I made it with 1/2 T of ground cumin both times, and it was lovely (I’m assuming that it will be lovely again). I meant to put in my leftover spinach this time, but I forgot. Oh well!
    Thank you SO much for this amazing recipe!

    Reply

  39. For Tadka we fry little bit of Red chilli/black mustard / cummin / curry leaf / White Urad dal (black gram, split and skin removed) in gingelly oil, Pour it over the cooked dal with hot oil.

    There is a bad reputation for Indian food in most of the western countries for Ghee & Butter. In a real Indian home we mostly use gingelly oil / mustard oil / groundnut oil / coconut oil for cooking, Butter/Ghee is pretty costly and will be used only by rich people.

    Reply

  40. Sweet! I made this tonight to go with some rice I baked. The rice was fusty and old tasting, but your Daal was terrific. This one’s a keeper! Off to the store for rice from a reputable seller.

    Reply

  42. Hi, I tried this. It’s really nice.
    I am looking for a dal recipe without using any spices. Totally plain Dal (with little bit of chilly, termaric & salt. nothing else).
    Can you help me please ???
    Thanking you.
    Venugopal

    Reply

  43. This is a great recipe and very easy. My wife always gets the tadka dal when we get Indian takeout, so I figured I should find a recipe and make it at home. Thanks!

    Reply

  44. thanks, this recipe worked just like my mom cooks back home in India. Just a variation to this recipe you could also add peanuts just after the dal is boiled.

    Reply

  45. This was delicious! I had sworn off making Indian food because nothing ever turned out and there was always something missing, maybe depth of flavor. Not sure. Anyway I love your recipes and they always turn out great so I decided to try this and if it didnt work out I was never going to attempt Indian food again. It was easy and turned out really flavorful! I did sautée the spices in some water first and threw some kale in at the end because kale makes everything better. 😉 you are a cooking genius! Thank you for all of your great recipes! I’ve finally figured out to just come to your blog for recipes first instead of searching anywhere else.

    Reply

  46. Thanks for the recipe, Susan. I made it my inaugural outing with my new Instant Pot (finally got over my jitters about using it), and it came out beautiful and delicious. Love the deep yellow of the turmeric and the combination of red lentils and yellow split peas. Another winner from your site!

    Reply

    • Thanks for wanting to share my recipes! I do have Pinterest in three places: at the top and bottom of each post and a button on the top left of each photo that Appears when you mouse over it. If you are looking at the mobile version, you may have to switch to the full version in order to see the share buttons.

      Reply

  48. I have been eating this for breakfast (because it’s cooler in the morning) all week with a bit of steamed broccoli on the side. This is very tasty and satisfying, plus a breeze to make in the IP. Thanks for another great recipe!

    Reply

  49. I have not liked lentils. I could never get the right texture. I had this soup at an Indian rest. and thought I would try to make it .It turned out perfectly and tastes exactly the same. Added a handful of chopped baby kale and it was delicious. Had to go out and get more lentils so I can make more tomorrow. Thanks for the great recipe !!

    Reply

  50. Thanks for this yummy recipe. I have been making dal the traditional way for forty years but now I am teaching myself to cook without oil. I am amazed how throwing all the spices in the pressure cooker with the lentils works. I added kale and cabbage to the browned onions to make a complete meal with brown rice. Yum!

    Reply

  51. 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.

    Reply

  58. 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.

    Reply

  60. 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.

    Reply

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