Dal Tadka Instant Pot

Here's a family-friendly, budget-friendly wholesome meal recipe for a busy weekday dinner.....Instant pot dal tadka.

A black color bowl is filled with dal tadka — A bowl of Dal Tadka

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It's a staple Indian lentil dish with simple vegan ingredients like yellow split pigeon peas and supporting whole spices.

In fact, it's one of the simplest dal tadka recipes you can find online and one that you should definitely prepare at home instead of paying a premium price at a restaurant.

You would be surprised how delicious boiled yellow lentils tempered with cumin seeds, chilies can be! Don't be thrown off if you are not familiar with the name Dal Tadka because the dish goes by other names too...Dal Fry or Daal Fry etc.

If you like dal recipes, there are other popular ones that I have shared in the past that received great feedback. Be sure to check them out or download the recipe card here...Chana dal recipe, Palak dal, Green moong dal recipe.

This Dal tadka recipe or any dal fry dishes I have shared in the past are great sources of proteins just based on the cooked dal. With the vegetables that we sometimes add for dal recipes, it becomes a balanced and complete meal.

The other important part of the Indian dal recipe is the spices. Spices are a big part of Indian cuisine and Indian households and that's what distinguishes one dish from another, one region's cuisine from another's, etc.

Today, I will try to cover all the spices required to make a dal tadka. If you happen to not have these common Indian spices, then I recommend buying them from an Indian grocery store or trying out one of my recommended brands on Amazon.

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Ingredients note
How to make this
Serving suggestion
Without garlic and onion
Recipe FAQ's
Tips
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📖 Recipe
Comments

Ingredients note

Split pigeon peas or toor dal: You can find these in any Indian grocery store or online on Amazon. for the best results soak them in water for 30 minutes. If you are not familiar with the name 'split pigeon peas' or have not seen it at the local grocer, check for other names that it goes by...'Arhar dal'.
Spices: Use turmeric powder, garam masala powder, red chili powder and cumin seeds, and mustard seeds. Look for sealed bags of powdered spices. Spices lose their flavor and aroma over time. So it is advisable to store powdered spices in the freezer to preserve their flavor. Turmeric powder cooked over medium heat releases lot of flavor and color to the dish.
Onions: You can use red, white, or yellow onions. Red onions offer the best taste and flavor in my experience. But the choice of onions does not make big difference for this recipe.
Tomato paste: Using organic tomato paste gives better taste and texture to the dal tadka than chopped tomatoes. However, you can still use fresh chopped tomatoes. Just be sure to increase cooking time and adjust how much water you add to the dish to control texture.
Oil: I used extra virgin olive oi,l but feel free to use vegan butter, corn oil, or coconut oil. The original version uses ghee, but I have modified it to make it vegan. There is no noticeable difference by substituting ghee.
Ginger and garlic: I used fresh chopped ginger-garlic. You can use store-bought or homemade ginger garlic paste.

How to make this

An instant pot is with spices and ginger garlic on saute mode.

Start the instant pot in saute mode and drizzle a couple of teaspoons of oil.

As the oil heats up, add the mustard seeds, and after a few seconds add chopped or minced garlic and ginger.

A pot is with chopped onions on saute mode.

Once the mustard seeds start to sizzle and garlic changes color, add onions, ginger, green chilies, and saute for 2 minutes.

An instant pot is with tomato masala for dal tadka on saute mode.

Add tomatoes, spices(turmeric, coriander powder, chili powder) and stir them well.

An instant pot is with dal and spices on cooking mode.

Follow it up with Toor dal (pigeon pea lentil) and three cups of water for cooking. Stir it all up.

A pot is with water and lentils to make dal fry.

Press ‘Cancel’ on the Instant Pot and close the lid with a vent in the sealing position.

An instant pot displaying cooking time for dal tadka.

Change the instant pot setting to ‘manual’ or ‘pressure cook’ mode at high pressure for 6 mins.

When the instant pot beeps, wait for natural pressure release. When the lid pin drops down open the instant pot lid.

Da tadka is inside the pot and topped with cilantro.

Tadka method: Place a pan over medium flame and add a few teaspoons of oil. when oil heats up add cumin seeds and saute for 10 seconds. Then add Kasuri methi and hing (optional) and switch off the flame. Add this tadka to the dal.

Garnish with cilantro, then serve with rice or roti.

Serving suggestion

Instant Pot dal tadka is one of our family favorite recipes. We have it often, at least once a week. It goes very well with phulka roti, sona masoori rice, and even brown rice.

It may also be served with Indian flatbread like besan roti, naan, avocado paratha, and jeera rice.

Without garlic and onion

You can also make dal fry without onion and garlic. I have received some requests for that. Just skip those ingredients and follow the rest of the normal procedure that I have shared below.

I have tried it successfully in the past. The sweet taste of caramelized onions will be missed, however, if you observing a fast or if you are allergic to onions or garlic, just skip them and follow the rest of the procedure.

Recipe FAQ's

What is dal tadka?

Dal tadka is a simple lentil curry tempered with whole spices and finished off with ghee or oil.

Do I have to soak the lentils?

Yes, I recommend soaking the lentils for 30 minutes before cooking in Instant Pot. That helps in digestion and in improving cook time.

How can I meal prep and store it?

You can make the curry ahead of time, store it in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month and reheat it whenever you want.
I recommend using a glass container like Pyrex if microwaving. This will make your life easier as you can prepare it ahead.

Tips

Soak the toor dal (split pigeon peas) for at least 30 minutes.
Traditionally for tadka, it is common to use ghee in the traditional method. However, using oil or vegan ghee for tadka is just fine. There is no noticeable difference.
Garnish with cilantro leaves and lemon juice for additional flavor/taste.
You may substitute moong dal and masoor dal(red lentils) for toor dal. It will have a slightly different taste and color though.
The addition of vegan ghee at the end is optional but it enhances the taste.
Dal can have thick or runny consistency, choose your favorite texture and add water accordingly.
For an authentic taste, add curry leaves to tadka at the end.