Instant Pot Dal tadka is a flavorful dal with split yellow pigeons peas.
Dazzling Dals
Theme for this week is dazzling Dals and am going to post 3 yummy dals. The first dal recipe is a simple and mouthwatering Instant Pot dal tadka. Serve it with either rice or Indian flatbread.
Indian Cuisine
Dals are a staple in Indian cuisine and more so in Indian vegetarian diet. These are one of the main sources of protein in Indian vegetarian cuisine. There are slight variations in how dals are prepared from region to region. South Indian Dals vary from simple dal tadka to dals with leafy and regular vegetables.
What is Dal Tadka
Dal tadka is a North Indian dal where the dal is first cooked with onion tomatoes and chopped ginger, simmered to required consistency and finally topped with tempering. Chopped ginger gives a unique flavor to dal, which is different from the South Indian dal I make at home. In fact, I do not use ginger in dals.
There are many versions of dal tadka. In today’s version, onion tomato ginger garlic and uncooked toor dal are roasted in oil and then cooked. In some versions, veggies and dal are cooked without roasting in oil.
How to cook Toor Dal for Dal Tadka
There are many ways to cook toor dal; in Instant Pot, in a saucepan and in a pressure cooker on stove top.
Cooking Toor Dal in Instant Pot
- Cook dal in manual mode for 8 minutes and do a natural pressure release.
- If dal is soaked for at least 10 minutes, cook for 5 minutes in manual mode. I follow this setting when cooking rice and/or eggs along with dal.
Cooking Toor Dal in a Pressure Cooker
Cook dal for 7 whistles/hisses and 3 minutes on low flame. Release pressure naturally.
Cooking Toor Dal in a Saucepan on Stovetop
I never cook toor dal in a saucepan and cooking time is at least 45 minutes long.
Note
Since I like very soft dal, I follow above mentioned cooking times. Cooking time is longer with some batches of toor dal but normally these settings work. For a perfectly cooked dal, add ¼ - ½ teaspoon of oil to dal water mixture.
How to Cook a Simple Meal in Instant Pot
Just like in pressure cooker, cook a full meal in instant pot using pot in pot method (PIP). Prepare dal tadka, cook rice and boil an egg using pip method. Use one vessel for rice and another for egg.
- Use main inner vessel for dal.
- Place trivet in dal.
- On the trivet place a container of rice with 1: 1 ½ rice to water ratio.
- Stack another vessel or a plate on rice vessel and place an egg in it.
- When cooking eggs, I do 5 minutes manual mode, quick release after 5 minutes.
- Remove egg, put in cold water and peel the egg.
Instant Pot Dal Tadka Recipe
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Dal Tadka
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Toor/Tuvar/Arhar Dal/Dry Pigeon Peas
- 2-3 teaspoon Oil
- 2 - 3 small Green Chilies
- 1 teaspoon chopped Ginger
- 1 teaspoon chopped Garlic or 2 fat Garlic Cloves
- ½ medium sized or ⅓ cup sliced Onion
- ½ large or ⅓ - ½ cup chopped Tomato
- Turmeric Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
Tempering
- 2 teaspoon Ghee or Oil or combination of both
- ¼ teaspoon Cumin
- 2 fat Garlic Cloves or 1 teaspoon of chopped Garlic Cloves
- ½ - ¾ Kasoori Methi
- Pinch of Hing ~ Asafoetida
- Pinch of Chili Powder, optional
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Wash dal and soak for 10 minutes or until ready to use.
- Plug Instant Pot and set it to saute mode.
- When the inner vessel is hot, add oil and saute green chilies, ginger and garlic for few seconds.
- Throw in onions and continue to saute for a minute or two until onions are soft.
- Add tomatoes, salt, turmeric and continue sauteing until tomatoes are soft and mushy.
- Cover the inner pot to speed up cooking of tomatoes. This step is optional
- Discard water from the dal, add to Instant Pot and continue to saute for a minute or two until dal is roasted.
- Hit cancel button, add ¾ cup of water and give a good stir.
- At this point, if one wants to cook other items along with dal, insert the containers for pot in pot cooking.
- Close Instant Pot and press Manual/Pressure Cook. Adjust the time to 5 minutes, make sure the pressure is set to high and vent sealed.
- Basically it is 5 minutes in manual setting and quick release after 5 minutes.
- I cooked eggs along with dal hence quick release. Else do natural pressure release.
- Open instant pot, remove vessels if you did pip.
- Press saute mode, stir dal, add about ¾ cup of water, salt and bring to a boil.
- When desired consistency is reached, hit cancel button. Mind you, dal thickens as it cools.
- Meantime, on stove top, do a tempering by heating oil/ghee mentioned in tadka ingredient list.
- When oil is hot, add cumin and let the seeds change color.
- Add chopped garlic, hing and let garlic roast.
- Turn off the flame, add kasuri methi, turmeric and chili powder if using.
- Pour the tadka over dal, add cilantro, cover and let sit for at least 5 minutes until flavors infuse into dal.
- Serve dal with roti, paratha or rice.
Notes
- I use vine ripe tomatoes but any variety will work
- 5 minutes manual setting - Contents in the Instant pot will cook for 5 minutes on high pressure once the pressure is built.
- It will take about 8 minutes for the pressure to build up.
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sapana says
Instant pot sounds like a total bliss and the IP dal tadka looks just perfectly cooked. Nothing beats the perfect combo of dal and rice.
Chef Mireille says
loving this bringhtly colored dal - looks so good
themadscientiststskitchen says
Stunning pictures. I love this dal tadka it is delicious.
farah says
my favourite comfort food..........lovely pic and presentation.........
Pavani says
I love this North Indian style toor dal Usha. I make it some times to break south Indian food monotony. Also it is great to serve with rice or roti. Never made dal in insta opt, will have to try it out some time.
MySpicyKitchen says
I bought a mini insta pot past Thanksgiving and since then using it a lot to cook dal. But yes, there are times when I find it lot easy to just grab a pressure cooker to cook dal.
Sowmya says
This is a classic comfort food and yours has turned out delicious and tempting.
harini says
Simple dal and extra-ordinary clicks. You make simple everyday food look exotic. Hats off.
Sandhiya says
Such a comforting dal recipe. The pics are very catchy and inviting as usual, Usha. Atleast twice i make this kind of dals, love it with some hot rice & dollop of ghee. Guess IP makes the whole process lot more easier.
Srivalli says
Usha, I enjoyed reading your post. The pictures are out of the world and those Pinterest cards are so nicely done! Even if this is a simple dal, nothing can beat the taste right..awesome post overall!
MySpicyKitchen says
Yes, Valli. Though it is simple, tastes amazing. Thanks.
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
So many tips to use the Instant pot! Here it is just slowly catching up and was wondering if it is worth investing in one, since I use my pressure cookers a lot - in fact the most used and battered pots in my kitchen... hehe... Dal Tadka sounds simple and delicious, like Vaishali mentioned, I love them with some kasuri methi, takes it to another level....
MySpicyKitchen says
Rafeeda, to be honest, I am not as head over heals as most of them are. I use it becuase I have it. It is basically a pressure cooker. The only advantage is, it is an electric pressure cooker hence you don't have to baby sit. Also it has a delay timer, so especially for working women, it comes really handy. Put everything in the pot, set delay timer and by the time you com home in the evening from work, food is ready.
Mayuri Patel says
Beautiful clicks and love the colour of the tadka dal. Such a comforting bowl of dal. I love it with rice.
Priya Suresh says
Wow, what a stunning clicks, havent seen dal clicks this much clear and crisp. Pigeon peas dals is definitely my kind of comforting food. Lipsmacking here already Usha.
MySpicyKitchen says
Thanks Priya
Varada says
I love the Instant Pot to cook dal rice too. Set it all up and forget it until it is done. Perfect for busy mornings or evenings. Everything looks perfectly done.
Renu says
Dal tadka looks so tempting... anytime for that comforting bowl of Dal rice.. beautiful clicks
Gayathri Kumar says
Whatever the method, I love a comforting bowl of dal. This dal tadka is so flavourful with ginger and garlic. Love your instant pot version.
MySpicyKitchen says
Thanks Gayathri. I am slowly trying to use Instant Pot more often and more efficiently.
Vaishali Sabnani says
Daal Tadka is a much ordered daal in any restaurant , even though it is a simple daal it has a lovely flavor and that bowl is surely very inviting. Add just 1/4 tsp of kasoori methi and it will be a perfect restaurant daal!
MySpicyKitchen says
Oh, next time will try it just 1/4 tsp kasuri methi. Thanks for the tip, Vaishali.