Bengali Masoor Dal Recipe
Red Lentils (Bengali Style)
Servings: 6 people
Equipment
- 1 cooking pot should hold 5-6 cups water
- 1 skillet for frying onions and garlic
- 1 dal ghotni (masher) optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils soaked for 30-60 min
- 5-6 cups water
- 1 small onion finely sliced
- 4-5 cloves garlic sliced
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 whole medium bay leaf
- 1.5 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 tbsp mustard oil
- 1-2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
- 1-2 tbsp cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Wash and rinse the red lentils in your cooking pot a couple of times. Cover the lentils with water and soak for 30-60 minutes, depending on the kind of red lentils you are using. If you are using split red lentils, 30 minutes is fine. If you are using whole red lentils, soaking for longer is necessary. Soaking before cooking ensures that the dal will cook quickly.
- Rinse the lentils once more and drain the water out. To this rinsed dal, add 5-6 cups of water.
- Add the whole medium bay leaf and turmeric powder. Mix it with a wooden spoon and put the pot over high heat.
- Once it comes to a bowl, reduce heat to medium/low and let simmer until dal is fully cooked. Be sure to stir once in a while. This should not take more than 15-20 minutes if you have soaked the lentils beforehand.Optional but highly recommended: Once you see the dal has fully cooked, use a dal ghotni (wooden hand masher) to mash up the dal.
- While the lentil is cooking, in a small pan or skillet, heat up 1 tbsp mustard oil along with 1-2 tbsp of canola or vegetable oil over medium/high heat. Toss in the finely sliced onions.
- Once the onions soften, add the sliced garlic and stir. At this point, leave the onions and garlic to brown, stirring occasionally. Turn down the heat if you need to, in order to prevent them from burning.
- When the onions and garlic are completely sauteed and golden brown, add this tempered mix along to the cooked dal. Bring the mixture to a boil again to let the flavors meld together.
- Taste for salt and add more if needed.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.
Notes
Depending on the availability of ingredients in my pantry, I sometimes stir in a dollop of ghee at the end. This makes the dal a little richer. This is good to do if you are serving it to guests. But totally optional if you are looking to keep things healthy.