Recipe- Vegan And Gulten Free Whole Masoor Dal

Simple and comforting whole masoor dal (brown lentils/sabut masoor dal) cooked in the Instant Pot. This dal is vegan and gluten-free and pairs well with rice, quinoa, roti. You can also enjoy it as a soup.

We can never have enough of dals, can we?I grew up eating toor/arhar dal everyday, that’s like the staple in eastern Uttar Pradesh (part of India where my family belong from).

So every morning would start with toor dal being cooked in the pressure cooker. Out of 365 days, that yellow dal would be made for 350 days, I am not kidding.Rest of the days, maybe we would get an occasional chana dal or dal makhani.

Basically, I was so bored of it that now when I cook myself, I keep changing dals all the time.I mix and match dals and make them differently each time. One of my favorite dals these days is Whole Masoor Dal or Sabut Masoor Dal as we would call in hindi.These are whole brown lentils and they have such a distinct taste. You don’t really need a ton of spices to make this dal flavorful.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil 15 ml, I used avocado oil
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 inch ginger chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 green chili chopped
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 cup whole masoor dal brown lentils
2.5 cups water
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
lemon wedges to serve

Method

* Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it's hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for few seconds.

* Then add the chopped ginger, onion, green chili and mix. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until onions are light golden brown in color. Stir often.

* Add in the tomatoes and de-glaze the pot by scrapping the bottom with a spatula. There shouldn't be anything stuck at the bottom.

* Add the spices- coriander powder, turmeric and garam masala.
* Also add the salt and mix. Cook for 1 minute.

* Add the rinsed whole masoor dal to the pot and toss with the masala.

* Then add in the water and stir. Close the pot with the lid.
Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 13 to 14 minutes, with the pressure valve in sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.

* Open the pot and add chopped cilantro and mix. At this point, you can also add a teaspoon of ghee for extra flavor.

* You can also add crushed kasuri methi or squeeze in some lemon juice.

* Serve whole masoor dal with rice or roti or paratha.