Masoor daal is one of my absolute favourite daals – it’s richer and more filling than the split version, is inexpensive and with my Instant Pot, it’s a dream to cook and ready in minutes.
Here’s a step by step guide that will hopefully eliminate the guesswork to give you a great result even if you’re new to Instant-Potting!
You will need:
- Oil (enough to thinly cover the base)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 medium onion, chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon of garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon of ginger paste
- 225 grams of crushed tomatoes or two medium sized tomatoes chopped
- 1 green chilli (chopped or whole – we leave ours whole because of the kids)
- 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder (this is optional, we used to add this before the kids ate with us, we don’t now)
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder
- Salt, to your taste
- 1 cup of whole masoor dal
- 3 cups of water
- 3 tablespoons of cream (optional – we use Oatly cream for a lighter but creamy finish)
- Coriander leaves, chopped finely
Method:
- Before you begin to chop your onion, switch on the Instant Pot to Sauté (on Normal not High) – this will bring the pot to temperature and it helps to get things going so you’re not wasting time.
- Add a thin layer of oil – enough to cover the bottom of the pan and when the oil is shimmering, sprinkle in your cumin seeds.
- When the cumin seeds begin to splutter, add in your chopped onion, garlic and ginger pastes and let them get nice and golden brown – this is key to getting a really flavourful daal.
- Once you are happy with the colour (I let it brown for a little longer than photographed below), add in your crushed tomatoes. My husband hates bits of tomatoes and the skin etc, so I always blitz tomatoes before using them. Pop in your green chilli now too.
- When some of the water has evaporated and you have a nice thick tomato paste, add in your powdered spices; chilli (if you’re using it), turmeric, garam masala and salt.
- Whilst that is incorporating, rinse your masoor daal in a colander (ensure you use warm or hot water, adding in cold food brings down the temperature of the pot and it takes longer to come to pressure).
- Add your drained masoor daal into the pot and stir until it is coated in the spicy sauce.
- Add 3 cups of water to this – ideally this should be three cups of boiling or very hot water – for the same reasons stated above.
- Seal the pot, select the manual function and start a 18 minute cycle on High. If you have soaked your masoor daal prior, you can probably cook this for a shorter period. I am usually in a hurry and prefer to just cook from the bag without having to soak.
- When the cycle is complete, push the steam valve to venting for a quick release of the pressure.
- Once you’ve opened the lid, put the pot back on Sauté and add your cream if you’re using it. Just stir it through for a minute or two and then switch off the pot or leave it on Keep Warm.
- Garnish with coriander before serving – this is lovely over basmati rice or with naan.
- Sauté cumin seeds
- Add in your diced onion, garlic and ginger
- Sauté until it’s a nice golden brown
- Add in your tomatoes and green chilli
- Add in the rest of the spices and salt
- Pop in your rinsed daal and stir to coat with the spicy paste
- Pour in your hot water
- Ensure the lid is on sealing
- The daal after the cycle is complete
- Stir in cream whilst it’s still warm (optional)
If you try this, I’d love to hear how you get on! You can always amend the recipe to suit your tastes; i.e. remove certain spices or add more of others. If you do try it, please tag me on Instagram @imanblogs so I can take a look!
18 Comments
Sainab
December 2, 2016 at 3:47 pmI love daal. This looks like such a simple way of making it. I must try!
Amina
December 4, 2016 at 11:57 amI love the spices you used. The combination will make it really flavourful. And any food this simple is really worth trying out.
Sahar
December 5, 2016 at 4:32 pmI am not a daal lover! I have tasted an exceptional daal in one restaurant that I don’t go to anymore. Will try this recipe when I buy masoor dal. Hubby has uric acid lroblems and daal is not a staple here anymore!
Yousra Naeem
December 5, 2016 at 6:25 pmI don’t like pulses but this one is my favorite & the pictures are so good that I am hungry already.
Thanks for sharing❤
Karen
December 11, 2016 at 4:08 pmI love dal! I will try this in my instant pot. I’ve been looking up masoor dal and it seems to suggest I should be using split red lentils but you mention that the lentils should be whole in this recipe, does this mean I should use brown or green whole lentils rather than split? I don’t have easy access to an Indian supermarket unfortunately.
Iman
December 13, 2016 at 1:47 pmHi Karen, I use the whole brown lentils (not the split ones) for this recipe. The split ones take a lot less time to cook, but I’ll have a recipe for those up too shortly!
Karen
January 8, 2017 at 6:00 pmThanks Iman, I will try that ?
Asma
March 12, 2017 at 1:05 pmAssalamalaikum, Iman. I made this last night and your recipe is on point. My husband and son pretty much inhaled it. I only had to adjust the water after cooking. It came out a little thick but nothing one cup of water couldn’t fix. Thanks again for such a great recipe!
Todd
January 15, 2018 at 6:23 pmThank you so much. My husband and I loved this dish.
Gosia Alabi
January 22, 2018 at 8:43 pmThis is great, I just got my instant pot and cannot wait to try it on this recipe. Will came back with the update. Thank you so much:))
Peter
January 27, 2018 at 10:33 pmThis worked very well – I had made masoor dal a few times (in a large saucepan) but never in an instant pot. Thank you for sharing this!
Iman
January 31, 2018 at 2:04 pmThank you Peter! I’m glad it worked well for you!
L Bottino
March 22, 2018 at 6:39 amI love this recipe. It’s perfect for me. I had a few different recipes for dal that I had saved and made a different one last week in error. I knew something was just not right! This week I came back to this one and THIS IS IT FOR ME. So as not to confuse myself again. I deleted the others! I only have one suggestion and that would be a ‘print’ recipe button. Thank-you!
Iman
March 27, 2018 at 11:59 amThank you! I’m so glad you enjoy it – I will work on that Print function!
Sarah
August 20, 2018 at 2:34 pmThis was fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing. If I double the recipe, I just double the time on the instant pot correct?
Iman
February 12, 2019 at 2:56 pmNope 🙂 there’s no need to double the time on the Instant Pot when doubling a recipe – this applies to any/ all recipes.
M
December 10, 2018 at 3:19 amThis was awesome..I used melted butter/ghee at end and oinch of heeng
Iman
February 12, 2019 at 2:53 pmThank you for your feedback! That sounds delicious!