After a long vacation or weekend is over, all I want is a bowl of simple and comforting meal. When it comes to Dal fry or Kichadi my choice of Dal is always a Yellow Moong. It is one of the recipes you think of when you think Ghar ka khana (home-cooked meal). It is full of nutrition and also easy to digest.
Making Dal in Instant Pot is easy, convenient, and quick. It’s light, comfy and flavorful -perfect for meal prep or a weeknight dinner. In this dal preparation, Moong dal is tempered twice to get the exact dhaba style flavour of the dal. The wonderful buttery flavor is obtained from tadka, added to the pot at the end of the cooking process.
Instant Pot Moong Dal Fry (Tadka)
Course: MainCuisine: Indian2
servings25
minutes40
minutesINGREDIENTS
½ cup Yellow Moong Dal
1 tbsp Ghee
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp hing (asafoteida)
1 small yellow onion, diced
5-6 small curry leaves
2 green chilis, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, grated or mined
½ inch ginger, grated
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp red chili powder
½ tsp coriander & cumin powder
½ tsp garam masala
salt to taste
2 cups water
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
2 tsp lemon juice
Extra Tempering:
2 tablespoons ghee
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
few curry leaves (optional)
- Extra Tempering
1 Tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
a pinch asafetida(hing)
1 dried red chili pepper
¼ tsp red chilli powder
1-2 garlic clove, sliced (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Wash the Moong Dal with warm water. Soak it in very warm water for 5-10 minutes. Drain in a colander.
- Start the instant pot in sauté mode and heat 1 tbsp ghee and add cumin seeds.
- When cumin seeds begin to splutter, add hing, onions, garlic, ginger, green chilies, curry leaves and pinch of salt. Cook until onions are just becoming translucent about 3-4 minutes.
- Add turmeric, chili powder, coriander & cumin powder and sauté for 30 seconds. Add drained dal, water and salt. Stir everything while making sure nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot. Press Cancel and close the lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the instant pot setting to MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK (High Pressure) for 4 mins. Once the pot beeps, let it release the pressure naturally (NPR) for 10 minutes, then release the pressure manually.
- Remove lid, add garam masala, cilantro and lemon juice and stir to combine well. If its too thick , turn on SAUTE mode ,add some water and boil for 2 minutes.
- Prepare a separate tadka in a tadka pan by heating 1 tbsp ghee add ¼ tsp jeera seeds, hing, broken red chili and ¼ tsp red chili powder. Keep stirring the pan to keep spices cooking evenly, for 30-60 seconds. Remove tadka pan from the heat.
- Pour tadka immediately over the dal. Serve moong dal with plain rice, jeera rice or roti! Enjoy!!
