Dal tadka is the one of the great Indian lentil dishes. Restaurants serve it everywhere for a reason. It is just really, really tasty.
And you can make it at home. It’s not hard. You can even cook the lentils the day before and finish them off when it’s time to eat. Great fast food.
They call this Dhaba style in India. Dhabas are restaurants along highways. Comfort food done restaurant style. Cheap and delicious. Guess everyone wants that on road trips. Yabba doo.
Two blasts of flavour make dal tadka special
The two stage flavouring is what makes them. First you make a masala. A combination of tomatoes, chilies, onions and spices. Cook it up and mix it into the lentils.
At this point it’s already good. You could stop here and not care. Seriously.
Or you can hit them with an extra shot of flavour. Fried whole spices bloomed in a bit of oil. Drizzled over the lentils. A double blast. Mad scientist genius.
One little trick
The one blast of flavour I’m leaving out is charcoal. Dal tadka has an optional step. It involves using a burning piece of charcoal to infuse the lentils with a bit of smoke.
That’s a bit over the top. Even for me. So I cheat. A couple black cardamom in the tempering. Adds a bit of smoky taste. Without burning down the house. Fair trade I think.
You may think otherwise. And that’s OK too. I don’t think there’s a tadka dal police. But if there is I guess they are coming for me…
Lentils matter
The other great thing about dal tadka is the texture. It’s soupy. The lentils are indistinct. Creamy even. I love that. It’s one of my favourite things about Indian food.
There are two lentils that always work. Masoor dal is one. Those are the little split pink lentils you see all over the place.
Toor dal is the other. That one will take a trip to an Indian grocer. It is perfect for dal tadka. Worth seeking out. Great in sambar too. Buy a big bag. If you are an Indian lentil fan you will use them up.
Dal tadka makes the meal
It’s good enough to star as a main course in a vegetarian meal. Serve it with parathas or chapatis and you have a great dinner right there.
Or make it part of a larger menu. But if you do that make sure your other dishes are just as good. Or it will steal the show. Dhaba style dal tadka. Could be you’ve just met your new favourite lentil dish.
tadka dal
Ingredients
The lentils
- 1 cup toor dal
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 cup onion
- 3 1/2 cups water
Dal tadka masala - the first flavour blast
- 1 cup onion - diced
- 2 tomatoes - chopped
- 3 green chilies - diced (or more to taste)
- 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
- 1 tsp kasoor methi
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
Final tempering - the second flavour blast
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp mustard seed
- 1/2 tsp cumin seed
- 4-5 red chilies kashmiri
- 2 black cardamom
- 1 2 inch piece cinnamon bark
Instructions
Cook the lentils
- Combine the toor dal, turmeric, diced 1/2 onion and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer until the lentils disintegrate. This takes about an hour.
First tempering
- While the lentils cook start your first tempering. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to brown. Add the green chili and garlic ginger paste. Stir and cook another minute or so.
- Push the onion mixture to the side of the pan. There should be some oil in the middle of the pan. If there isn't add a little more. Add the cumin powder, kasoor methi, salt and chili powder. Stir. Pay attention. You don't want your spices to burn. If it looks like the mixture is dry add a bit more oil. Cook for 30-45 seconds.
- Add the tomatoes and stir to combine everything. Simmer until the tomatoes start to break down. Add a bit of water if it starts to get too dry.
- Once the lentils have broken down add the first tempering to the lentils and stir to combine. Taste. Adjust salt as needed. You will probably need another half tsp or so. Simmer another 10-15 minutes.
Second tempering
- Heat the oil in a saucepan (the same one as before if you've rinsed it out - why make more dishes) over medium low heat.
- When the oil starts to shimmer add the black cardamom and cinnamon. Cook for about 30 seconds. Add the chilies and toast them quickly in the oil. Now add the mustard seed and cumin seed and cook for around 20-30 seconds. Watch the chilies. You don't want them to burn.
- Transfer the tadka dal mixed with first tempering to a serving bowl. Drizzle the second tempering over top. Serve.
Nutrition
Romain,
I have to thank you. I feel so much gratitude for what you’ve shown me.
I have had a love affair with Indian cuisine for my whole life. At times in my life I have been surrounded by magnificent restaurants. That was long ago. For the last 30 years, aside from traveling, the closest tolerable Indian restaurant is a 50 minute drive away.
The enlightening began when I made your Hotel Style Onion Gravy. Adding that to your Hotel Style Rogan Josh. The angels were singing that night. Finally, I could make Indian food better than the closest Indian restaurant. Since then, you are my Indian food guru.
Thank you. You have showed me the way.
-Eric in Michigan
Delighted to have been part of your journey!
Hey Romain,
This take dhal is superb. My wife and daughter love this dish in our local Indian as a main, made yours yesterday and they said it’s even better, high praise indeed. I added garam masala to T1 and Fennel seed to T2, just because I love them. Please keep doing what you’re doing mate!
I am grinning ear to ear as I write this thinking about the fact you cooked something your wife and daughter like better than your local restaurant! I won’t stop if you don’t.
Hey Romain,
Thanks as always. You do the work of the gods here.
Been cooking a lot of your work lately and I’ve been slightly adapting this recipe to try to tweak the flavour profile a bit (mostly for my wife – I love it as is, but also like to experiment.)
I’ve been trying to get a bit of tanginess/sourness into this without compromising the hearty, earthy depths already in here. So far I’ve toned down the cumin a notch, added some coriander powder to the tempering, and tamarind sauce close to the end along with finishing it with lime juice. I quite enjoy this variation, but the sour/tangy notes coming from the tamarind are nice but a bit flat for the up front zesty punch I’m seeking. I’ve been toying with the idea of something like pomegranate powder, but I’m very out of my comfort zone here, so I figured I’d ask the master. Any thoughts?
Have you tried amchoor aka dried mango powder? Another thing to try is anardhana – pomegranate seed. Or both. That’s how I do chole masala. Nice tanginess to that dish that might be what you’re looking for?
This dal is just magic!
Even if I am only cooking this for myself, I always make the full six servings. I’m not sure how anyone manages to get six servings from it though, it’s far too tasty to not go back to the saucepan for another ladle full. Maybe six servings as a side dish with the default quantities, but I’d say it makes four servings as a main course.
I made some this evening and it’s just so tasty! Some gobi paratha were the perfect partner.
Great to see all the new videos up on your Youtube channel! I thought it had been rather quiet here on glebekitchen recently, so I went to have a look at your channel and understood immediately why. Lots of new and interesting things to try!
I will get back here soon. This is my true love. I’m just trying to learn a new medium in video.
I love this dal too. I make a dal of some sort every single time I cook an Indian meal…
Hey dude, thanks for all these recipes. I’ve tried a good few now and they are all excellent. I am catering for 10 people and putting together a selection of dishes but wondered about how to multiply up the spices especially when it comes to the whole spices such as for the second tempering in this dish. Is it as simple as double or triple everything depending on how many portions you need or do you need to be a bit more careful?
Thanks in advance.
This dal will scale linearly. Most recipes on glebekitchen will scale from an ingredients perspective. Restaurant style curries don’t scale well because it is harder to fry the curry base so I tend to just make those ones twice. If you have a big pan and a powerful stove you can make it work for double. I wouldn’t try any more than that.
Hotel style scales really well because the gravy has the Maillard reaction built in so you don’t have to worry about frying it when you make the curries.
Hi Romain
Are the red chilies dried Kashmiri chilies?
Btw, made the Tarka Dal and Palak Chicken curry recipes along with some rice pilau yesterday – all were superb.
Thanks!
Awesome! That sounds an amazing feast.
Yes, kashmiri chilies. I updated the recipe.
Best lentil curry I’ve ever had/made.
Best that you’ve ever had. Awesome. That you made it yourself. Double awesome!
Hi Romain.
Froze the dal tadka before doing the final step and it defrosted a treat! Loved by all.
Sue
Thanks for the feedback Sue! Great tip.
Hi Romain,
Have people over at the weekend and pushed for time – can this be frozen so I can make ahead?
Thanks Sue
Never tried freezing it. Maybe you could cook the lentils the day before and have them in the fridge. Just make the tarka right before serving?
Thanks – might give freezing a go and let you know.
Sue
Please do. That would be great information to share!
I made this for the first time this evening and WOW, this is a seriously wonderful dal. Instead of restaurant style, I’d call it palace style! I haven’t cooked with black cardamom much, but it sure works beautifully here. Thanks, as always.
You are very welcome. I like palace style:-)
Hi Romain,
This Dal Tadka is requested regularly, I do double every time and find myself approaching the saucepan, already two or three servings to the good, bargaining with myself with a teaspoon saying this will be OK, just one more spoon… I’ve been letting the tomatoes stay a little more chunky. I love your recipes, I find strange ingredients arriving in my kitchen wondering what I bought them for and then I find the inspiration in one of your pages and go ‘Oh yes” then head for the kitchen late at night just to try it out. Pure cooking joy.
Thanks very much!
Haha. I eat an awful lot of dal tadka from the pan myself! Delighted to hear you’re having fun at the kitchen. That’s been my goal from the very start.
Been cooking my way through all of your vegetarian recipes; this one is a family favorite and I probably make it once a week!
I know you don’t frame this as a vegetarian site, but you definitely delivery for us. I’m desperate for ramen these days if you’d ever consider concocting a veggie option!
I am super happy to hear this. I am an omnivore and it’s true – the slant is heavy here on non-veg. But keep in mind that every curry recipe works great with chickpeas. Or roasted eggplant. Fried, whole mushrooms are good too. I like to mix it up when I’m cooking for myself.
Another thing I do sometimes is cook up just about any curry on the blog but don’t add meat. I take the sauce and fold it into some cooked masoor dal. That’s another option to think about if you are anywhere near as big a dal addict as I am…
For ramen, I don’t have a good plan on how to make tonkotsu style ramen vegetarian but the chicken curry ramen would work with mushrooms I bet…
Loved it, I thought the Kashmiri Chili’s gave it a lovely smoky taste, even better the next day.. looking forward to more of your recipes 🙌🏼
Awesome to hear. Glad you enjoyed it and I hope you find lots more you like!
I made this for lunch today, and everyone’s plate was wiped clean. I think this might be my favorite lentil dish so far. It came together very easily and those lentils…so deliciously creamy. Thank you for another amazing recipe. BTW I found the Balti serving dish on Amazon.
I love hearing that. Wiped clean is what I’m going for!
Glad you found the Balti dish on Amazon. I’ll go hunting for that now myself.
This is a bit unrelated but what size balti dish should I buy to serve up this gorgeous curry? 32 oz (6″ diameter, or 40 oz 7″ diameter? And can you recommend any website or brand?
Thank you – I’m loving your recipes.
I would think a 6 inch would be plenty large enough to hold most recipes on this blog. I get my Indian serving dishes at local Indian grocers. I don’t remember where I got the one in these pictures but I have been looking for more of them for a long time…
Cooked the Dora wot curry. Made my own Bebere. Fantastic flavours.Made yellow rice with it.Yum.
Home-made berbere. Love it!
When we do the 2nd cup of onion and it says to put it to one side, it doesn’t state when to put it back in, we added it when we put the chopped tomatoes in.
You push the onions to one side of the pan. There’s no need to remove them. In any case, adding them back in when you added the tomatoes amounts to the same thing so I expect you got exactly the the same result. Just a little unnecessary work you can skip next time.
Can I pressure cook the dal ??
I would say yes if the onions weren’t in the initial mix. I don’t know. I’ve never tried. It’s probably OK but I can’t guarantee it.
Cooked this amazing dish this afternoon! Wow, best dal ever! That last flavour blast hits the sweet spot! Another superb recipe Romain, thanks.
So glad you liked it! The tadka at the end really does make it work.
Do you think this would work well for the lentil part when making a dhansak?
Seems like it might add a nice bit of extra flavour to a dhansak by adding a few tablespoons of this dish instead of plain boiled lentils.
It would definitely change the dhansak as the recipe flavours are quite assertive. Maybe the lentils with the first tempering would be a safer place to start.
The use of black cardamoms for smokey finish; a great idea!
Another fantastic recipe, thanks!
Thanks! You are very welcome.