This yellow lentil dal features creamy yellow lentils infused with a blend of aromatic spices. This delightful and comforting dish is ideal for both beginners and experienced cooks. Tastes amazing with some naan bread, or served over basmati rice. Easy one pot weeknight dinner that's full of protein and amazing flavor.
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If you're new to cooking lentils, you're going to fall in love with how creamy, comforting and easy to make they are. They leave you feeling full and satisfied.
Learning the ropes of cooking with lentils is a fantastic addition to your cooking skills because of how easy and nutritious lentils are.
Whether you pair it with rice, roti, or simply enjoy it as a hearty soup, it's a delicious and wholesome treat that hits the spot.
If you love Indian cooking and lentils, make sure to check out this Easy Instant Pot Red Lentil Soup, Coconut Red Lentil Dal and this Coconut Red Lentil Soup next!
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- a healthy and easy dinner since lentils are high in protein, fiber and nutrients.
- it's vegan, vegetarian and gluten free.
- makes a simple one pot meal, that's great for meal prep.
- dal is the ultimate quick and easy weeknight dinner.
🍛 What is dal?
Dal is the generic Hindi word for dried legumes such as dry lentils, split peas, pigeon peas or beans. It also refers to the Indian dishes that are made from these ingredients.
Indian cooking uses many different types of dal such as masoor dal (red lentils), chana dal (split chickpeas), toor dal (split yellow pigeon peas) and urad dal (the black lentils used in the popular dish, dal makhani.)
Yellow moong dal is one of the most commonly used dals in Indian cuisine, and it's what we're using to make this recipe.
🧂 Ingredients and substitutions
- Yellow split lentils - Also called toor dal or moong dal. You can also use red lentils (masoor dal) if you can't find any yellow lentils. Red lentils are just a little sweeter, but it will still taste amazing.
- Onions, garlic, fresh ginger - I love using red onions for more flavor.
- Oil - I use a high heat oil like avocado oil. Canola oil or olive oil will work as well.
- Cumin seeds & Black mustard seeds - Sautéing whole spices at the beginning of this recipe really gives the yellow dal a lot of flavor.
- Red chili powder - you can also use cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes or a serrano chili if you love heat. This will create some moderate heat in this recipe. If your personal preference is that you don't like heat, feel free to leave this out.
- Seasonings - turmeric powder, coriander powder, hing (asafoetida), cumin powder. If you don't have all of the spices for this recipe, don't worry, you can substitute for a generic curry powder. It won't taste as flavorful, but it will still get the job done.
- Vegetable stock or broth - gives the dal more flavor than water, but you can also use water if you don't have this on hand.
- Fresh lemon juice - adds a nice brightness of flavor at the end
- Cilantro - curry always tastes amazing with fresh cilantro added at the end.
👩🍳 Expert recipe tips
Simmer the lentils until they become extremely soft, achieving a creamy consistency when whisked, which adds a lush texture to the dish.
Toor dal (yellow split peas) will make a smoother curry, but moong dal (split yellow mung bean - as shown in this recipe) also work.
Save money on spices- Buy your ground spices and whole spices at an Indian grocery store, if you have one near by. That is the cheapest way to buy them. You can also buy them online.
Starting an Indian spice collection? - Check out this Indian spices list blog post to get you started on what to buy to start your Indian cooking spices collection.
For a little smoother consistency, use an immersion blender to blend up some of the dal once it's cooked.
Dal too thick? Add a splash of water until you get the consistency you love.
Toast the spices on medium heat in the oil for about a minute. This helps to deepen their flavor.
🔪 Step by step directions
Make sure to scroll to the recipe card for full step-by-step instructions.
Step one: Add oil to a large pan on medium heat. Let the oil heat up for a minute or two. Add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds and sauté for one minute.
Step two: Add the onions and sauté until onions are translucent and lightly golden brown. Add the dry spices, garlic and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds.
Step three: Add the dry spices, garlic and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds.
Step four: Add the yellow lentils, vegetable broth and salt and stir. Cover and bring to medium-high heat, then a low simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and cooked. If the cooked lentils are too thick, add in some more vegetable broth.
Step five: After the yellow lentils have cooked, add in the lemon juice and top with fresh cilantro. Serve over basmati rice
🥘 Recommended equipment
If you make Indian food a lot or any Asian food, I really recommend a rice cooker. It will save your sanity and always cook you perfect rice. You can always use a pressure cooker as well. I have two, so I can cook my curry in one and rice in the other.
❄️ Storing tips
Fridge - Store this in an airtight container for up to five days.
Freezer - Cooked dal freezes very well. Just keep it in a freezer friendly container and it will keep for about 3 months. Let it thaw out in the fridge before heating it back up.
🍚 Serving suggestions
Here are some things to serve with this delicious yellow lentil dal:
- Basmati rice
- Brown rice
- White rice
- Naan bread
- Chapati bread
- Jeera rice
❓Recipe FAQ's
There is no need to soak the lentils since lentils cook pretty quickly as is. If you'd like to cut down on the cooking time even more, feel free to use soaked lentils, but it's not required.
Yes! This recipe works really well in a pressure cooker. Sauté the cumin and mustard seeds in oil for a minute. Then sauté the onions until lightly golden brown. Sauté the dry curry spices. Then add all the ingredients. Seal the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Let it naturally release for 8 minutes, then release the rest of the pressure. Add in the cilantro and lemon juice.
Yes! This recipe just involves lentils, aromatics, oil and spices. If you serve this over rice, it will be completely gluten free. Just make sure your spices are certified gluten free if you're serving this to someone with celiac disease.
Yellow lentils are also called split yellow mung beans or hulled pigeon peas. In Hindi there are a few different yellow lentils called toor dal, moong dal and chana dal.
♨️ More Indian recipes
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📖 Recipe
Easy Yellow Lentil Dal Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (optional)
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional if you don't like spice)
- 2 medium tomatoes (finely diced)
- ¼ teaspoon hing (optional)
- 1½ cups yellow lentils (toor dal or moong dal both work)
- 4-5 cups vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon salt
- juice from half a lemon
- basmati rice
- cilantro
Instructions
- Add oil to a large pan on medium heat. Let the oil heat up for a minute or two. Add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds and sauté for one minute.2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- Add the onions and sauté until onions are trasluscent and lightly golden brown.1 medium onion
- Add the dry spices, garlic and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds.4 cloves garlic, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- Add the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes have broken down a bit. Maybe 5 minutes or so.2 medium tomatoes
- Add the yellow lentils, hing, vegetable broth and salt and stir. Cover and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft and cooked. If the lentils are too thick, add in some more vegetable broth.1½ cups yellow lentils, 4-5 cups vegetable broth, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon hing
- Add in the lemon juice and top with fresh cilantro. Serve over basmati ricejuice from half a lemon
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Rachel
This is such an amazing recipe that I am making it twice in the same week. Also, I didn't have any lemon juice so I substituted lime juice. Also would recommend more lime juice to taste if you like it as needed.
Lori
This recipe is delicious as well as easy. I wasn't able to find yellow lentils so I substituted yellow peas which worked just as well.