Dal Fry
Dal fry is a very popular dish to be served in all the Indian restaurants across the world. What is Dal fry? Basically its a Indian lentil soup. There are different ways you can make Dal fry. Traditionally, Dal fry is made with mixture of various dals/lentils like toovar dal, chana dal, urad dal, yellow moong dal and moong split dal along with various spices. Dal fry usually has a medium to thick consistency, so that you can eat it with rice, pulav or for that matter naan or paratha.
Growing up in Gujarati family, I ate Dal fry only in the restaurants. After marriage and moving to USA, I could not find that authentic taste of Dal fry that I used to get back home. The scenario changed after this small little joint opened in Edison, NJ called Khasiyat(my second home). Their specialty is stuffed parathas and their thali/platter comes with different dal along with punjabi curries and stuffed parathas. My husband and my kids started enjoying their dal very much. I took it up as challenge to make Dal fry home and after many tries, I have come up with following recipe. Its delicious and will sure remind you of authentic taste of back home! Do try it out and let me know…
Dal Fry
- 3 tbsp moong dal (skinless yellow gram)
- 2 tbsp tuvar dal (split pigeon pea)
- 2 tbsp chana dal (split bengal gram)
- 1 tbsp urad dal (skinless black gram)
- 1 tbsp moong chikla dal (split green gram)
- salt ((to taste))
- 1 tsp haldi (tumeric powder)
- 4 medium tomatoes, roughly pureed
- 3 medium onions, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 inch ginger
- 7-8 garlic cloves
- 2 green chillies
- 3-4 dried red chillies
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
- 2-3 cardamom seeds, crushed
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1 handful chopped coriander
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 3/4 tsp amchoor powder
- 1/2 tsp kasoori methi, roasted and crushed
- 1 small charcoal ((optional))
- 1/2 tsp ghee
Wash twice and soak the dals in a cup of water for 30 minutes. Pressure Cook the dals with some more water added about ½ cup, salt to taste and ½ tsp haldi for 4 whistles on high, then leave for 2 minutes in medium flame.
Heat up ghee in a pan. Crush up ginger, garlic and chili using a mortar-pestle(this is very important. By crushing ginger-garlic-chilies in mortar-pastel gives a unique texture and flavor). Add the cumin seeds to the ghee, once sizzles add the bay leaf, dried red chili, hing, along with the crushed ginger-garlic-chilies mixture.
Saute for a moment, add the cardamom, crushed coriander seeds, chili flakes. Cook for a minute.
Add the onions, ¼ tsp salt and cook till brown. Once starts leaving fat and is brown, add the tomato puree, salt to taste and cook for 10-12 mins or until starts leaving sides and fat.
Once done, add a handful of chopped coriander, cumin powder, garam masala, kashmiri red chili powder, coriander powder, amchoor and kasoori methi. Mix well and cook for another 2-3 mins.
Add the cooked dal, and cook for 3-4 mins.. Make sure the dal is not watery, It should be of thicker consistency. Add ½ cup water(if needed), mix well and cook for 5 mins. Switch off the flame.
Heat up a charcoal on open flame until fiery red. Place a small stainless steel bowl in the dal and make sure it stays and does not sink, put in the hot charcoal and pour in a few drops of ghee. Quickly cover the pan. This will bring the real dhaba/restaurant taste, the smoky taste. Let this be like for 10 mins. If you don’t like the smoky flavor, you can omit this step.
Take the bowl out, mix the dal and relish with rice, pulav or for that matter naan or paratha.
Nice recipe…
Thanks dear. I’m glad you liked it.