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Instant Pot Dal Tadka
Dal tadka is a flavorful dal with split yellow pigeons peas.
Course
Side Dish, Soup
Cuisine
Indian
Prep Time
10
minutes
minutes
Cook Time
20
minutes
minutes
Total Time
30
minutes
minutes
Servings
2
Calories
Author
Usha Rao
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.