Over the past few years I have been using Masoor Dal /Red Lentils a lot in my everyday cooking. Personally I feel they take less time to cook compared to regular Toor Dal or Moong Dal, also they are light on our tummy too. No bloating or heaviness and this particular Dal recipe goes very well with Rice, Roti or you can even have it like a soup. I have made a similar recipe using Moong Dal in pressure cooker. You can check the recipe here. Also there is another variation of Masoor Dal Tadka which you can check here.
Whether you make the Dal in Instant Pot or in Pressure cooker just make sure you first Sauté the veggies along with Spice Powders. This step is crucial. Add the lentils later and then cook them all together. If you are planning to add Tadka later you could do that as well.
Its been 8 days since I took up this challenge of trying to eat light for dinner. So far its going well. Yesterday I had this bowl of Dal as a soup along with Baked Eggplant and a simple Avocado Salad.
Day 8 Dinner bowl : Red Lentil Dal, Baked Eggplant and Salad
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 1/2 cup Masoor Sal (Red Lentils)
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 capsicum
- 2 Tomatoes
- 1 potato
- 1 green chilli
- 2 teaspoon finely chopped ginger garlic pieces
- 1 teaspoon Sambar powder (if you don't have Sambar Powder replace it with Red Chilli Powder and add some extra coriander powder to your Dal)
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Powdered Jaggery
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Hing
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Jeera Seeds
- 1 tablespoon Kasuri Methi leaves
Ingredients
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- Turn on 'Saute' mode in Instant Pot
- Add Oil, add mustard seeds, jeera seeds and a slit green chilli
- Let them splutter. Add chopped ginger and garlic pieces
- Saute for a minute
- Add onions and all the chopped veggies
- Add salt, turmeric, hing,sambar powder and coriander powder
- Saute for 2 minutes
- Wash and clean Masoor Dal
- Add Dal to the Instant Pot. Add two cups of water
- Turn off 'Saute' mode
- Turn on 'Pressure Cook' mode and also ensure the 'High Pressure' button is ON
- Set timer to 12 minutes
- Once the timer is off leave it for another 3-4 minutes and manually release the pressure
- Add crushed Kasuri Methi leaves, jaggery powder and mix it well. Based on your preferred consistency you can add extra water if you want.
- Adjust salt and serve this delicious dal as a side dish for Rice or Roti
- Chop one Avacado into pieces, add some onions, tomato, cucumber and fresh Basil Leaves.
- Add a pinch of salt, pepper powder, a tablespoon of lemon juice and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Mix everything together
- Fresh Basil leaves in a Salad adds so much flavor
- Incase if you don't have fresh leaves you can add dried Italian Herb seasoning
- Chop Eggplant into round pieces. Marinate them with 2 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon Chilli Powder, 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder, 1 teaspoon Salt
- Preheat oven to 180c. Place the marinated pieces in an aluminium foil
- Bake them at 180c for 15 minutes and then turn on 'Grill' mode for 2 minutes
- Since I didn't add any Rice flour or Gram Flour the Eggplants weren't that crispy at the centre. They were well cooked and a bit soft
- Carefully remove them from foil and serve it hot