TADKA DAL RECIPE | HOTEL STYLE TOOR DAL TADKA

This is a basic dal recipe. It is so simple yet so comforting. It can be made in a matter of minutes and is so versatile. You can pair it with rotis and subji or ladle of rice drizzled with ghee! Tastes best anyways. . Although everyone has recipe for dal fry but each one is unique and have different taste.Dal is a ready source of proteins for a balanced diet containing little or no meat

Dal fry & dal tadka are almost similar except the method of cooking them.In dal fry first tempering is prepared then onions,tomatoes are sauted along with remaining ingredients & then cooked mashed dal is poured on tempering .Whereas in dal tadka  first dal is prepared & then a tempering (tadka) is prepared from ghee ,garlic & curry leaves,red chillies & poured on dal .

My favourite dish is dal tadka  along with fried papad ,mango pickle & steamed basmati /ambe mohor rice 

Ingredients 

 Split pigeon pea (toor dal/arhar dal) 1 cup
Ghee  2 tablespoons
Onion ,finely chopped  1 medium
Garlic,finely chopped  3 cloves
Ginger finely chopped 1 inch
Green chillies chopped 2-3

Cumin coriander powder   1 tsp
 Red chilli powder  1/2 teaspoon
 Turmeric powder 3/4 teaspoon
 Sugar/ jaggery - 1 tsp (optional)
 Salt  to taste
 Dry mango powder (amchur)  1 teaspoon  / lemon juice

Tempering
Hing (asafoetida )
4-5 curry leaves (optional)
Ghee 2-3 tsp
Cumin seeds  1 teaspoon
3-4 garlic cloves crushed
 Red chillies 1-2 broken into 2 pieces
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Coriander leaves for garnish

 Method :

1.Wash toovar dal and soak it  for 30 minutes in water.

2 Add soaked dal, turmeric powder, hing,salt, 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker & cook it for 8-9 whistles till its soft.Mash dal with help of masher.

3. Heat half of the ghee in a pan. Add half of the chopped onion and garlic,ginger green chillies and sauté till golden. Add tomatoes, red chilli & cumin coriander powder & mix well .Add little water & cover with lid & cook till tomatoes are soft.

 

4. Next add cooked dal ,jaggery /sugar ,salt, &  little water ( add little  water as this dal is a bit thick). Stir and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add mango powder/lemon juice and simmer for another 5  minutes. 

5.Heat the remaining ghee in another pan. Add cumin seeds. When they begin to change colour add the remaining onion and garlic and sauté till golden brown. Add hing,curry leaves & red chilli pieces,stir. switch off gas remove pan from gas add red chilli powder and mix well. Add this seasoning to the dal, simmer for two minutes and remove from heat.

6.Garnish with coriander leaves & Serve hot.

 

Tips
  1. You can even use masur /mung dal / chana dal or  combo of three dals to prepare  this      dal .
  2. Always do the Tadka either with Ghee for the strong Flavor.
  3.You can replace ginger with garlic or with ginger garlic paste for variation  in dal tadka    first dal is prepared & then a tempering (tadka) is prepared from ghee ,garlic & curry  leaves,red chillies & poured on dal .