Everyone needs a dal recipe up their sleeves and Rinku’s Instant Pot Yellow Split Peas with Tomatoes , also known as Tarka Dal, is the one for you.
What is Dal or Dahl?
Dal has two meanings and sometimes more than two spellings. Dal is used to refer to dried split peas and lentils and to a soup or stew that’s made out of them.
In Indian stores you’ll see that there are more lentils than you ever imagined. Each lentil has 4 variations: whole with skin, whole without skin, split with skin, and split without skin.
This recipe uses the dry split lentil called moong dal. If you can’t find them you can substitute regular yellow split peas.
Indian Food and Your Instant Pot Are a Perfect Match
So many Indian recipes are already made in a pressure cooker, so they are easy to translate to your Instant Pot. Beans, lentils, vegetables, and even fruit cook down into delicious stews. But my favorite part of Indian food is the spices.
When you start cooking Indian recipes you may have to get a few new spices. If you have an Indian market in your city you will find fresh, inexpensive spices there. However, you can get them in bulk at a co-op or even buy them on Amazon.
This fragrant Tarka Dal is from Rinku Bhattacharya‘s new book, Instant Indian: Classic Foods from Every Region of Indian Made Easy in the Instant Pot. The recipe is printed with permission from Hippocrene Books, Inc. and the book comes out October 2nd.
How Can I Make This Oil-Free?
It’s simple. Just leave out the oil and water saute instead. You can do the same thing in other Indian recipes, even when you’re toasting spices.
More Recipes to Try
- Instant Pot Chai Tea Concentrate
- Instant Pot Refried Mayacoba Beans
- Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa with Black Bean and Veggies
Instant Pot Yellow Split Peas with Tomatoes (Tarka Dal)
Tarka Dal, if you understand the meaning, might sound like an oxymoron. Tarka, or the process of tempering with spices at the end of cooking, is what makes Indian lentils the magical soft pools of goodness that we all love. The process of making dal is incomplete without the tarka, so listing it in the name almost sounds redundant. But the Tarka Dal for the Punjabi table actually reverses this process, instead of finishing with the tarka we start with it, making this dish perfect for fix-and-forget cooking. On a busy evening, you can whip up this amazing pot of goodness, serve it with homemade or store-bought parathas, and you are in business. - Rinku Bhattacharya
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil (Kathy says you can use water to saute instead)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3/4 cup yellow split lentils, (moong dal)
- 3 med tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 tesapoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin coriander powder mix
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- Crushed red pepper flakes, to garnish
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot® on Sauté mode and heat the oil for 1 minute. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ginger, and garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the lentils and sauté lightly.
- Stir in 3 cups of water, the tomatoes, turmeric, cumin coriander powder, cayenne pepper powder, and salt.
- Press Cancel to turn off the Sauté mode. Close the lid and set the Instant Pot® on Manual Pressure for 5 minutes. When the cooking time is complete, allow for Natural Pressure Release for about 5 minutes.
- Once the pressure is released, open the pot and stir in the lime juice. Garnish with cilantro and crushed red pepper flakes to serve.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 72Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 0mgSodium 418mgCarbohydrates 9gFiber 3gSugar 2gProtein 3g
Nutrition information is provided from nutritionix.com as a close estimate. If you have specific health issues please put the recipe information into the nutritional calculator your Dr. recommends.
Jules Shepard says
We just adore Indian at our house and love finding new recipes! This looks like a keeper…thanks for sharing!
Amanda says
This looks incredible. I haven’t eaten much Indian food. I think this is the perfect recipe for me to start a new culinary adventure!
Leslie says
We love Indian food, and I’m sure this recipe will not disappoint. There aren’t many Indian restaurants in this area, so, I’m looking forward to making this myself.
Kortney says
This is one of the reasons I would consider getting an instapot! I\’m not much of a gadget gal, but I love to make pulses, which takes forever on the stove top
Becky Striepe says
Oh yum! This is such cozy, fall comfort food. I need to get some yellow split peas, STAT!
Dianne says
You’re right – I do need a good dal recipe up my sleeve! This one sounds super yummy!
Cadry says
I need to pull my Instant Pot out of its early retirement. (I used it once, and then put it in a closet… over a year ago.) This looks like everything I love!
Mary says
Sounds delish! I could not get through a day anymore without my Instant Pot. Can you recommend a replacement for the cumin coriander powder mix? Perhaps half cumin and half coriander spice? Thanks.
Kathy Hester says
50/50 blend works perfect!
Kathy says
Could you translate for a regular pressure cooker? Would it be bring to boil over med (or high?) heat then cook for 5 mins then do natural release til the thingie pops?
Kathy Hester says
Honestly, I’ve never used a regular pressure cooker. But there are tons of Indian bloggers out there who use one and I bet you can find the same recipe on one of their blogs.
vicki says
We love indian food in our family.. So I will be fixing this ASAP I just happen to be blessed with several pounds of Lentils. And Yellow split peas.
I so wish I could share some. I ask everybody and everyone will say No they don’t eat em.
I will be making it and see if they will even try the dish.
I am so happy to have found this recipe .
Kerry says
This was a watery mess. I cooked it for another 15 minutes on high pressure so the split peas were actually cooked, but there still ridiculous amounts of liquid. 3 cups of water to 3/4 cup of spilt yellow peas is off. Plus adding tomatoes creates more liquid. Thankfully I only added 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne or t would be a hot mess. I’ve taken the lid off and am trying to simmer to reduce the watery concoction before I contemplate adding the cilantro or lime. I may just toss and cut my losses.