Dal and Rice is the Traditional Soup of India

Dal and Rice is a common dish combination served in India. It is the soup of India, and it is served over, or in combination, with rice. It can be made a number of ways. Some people prefer to leave their lentils in chunks, while others prefer to liquify the lentils; do whichever sounds more appealing to you! Bear in mind that spices and ingredients can vary in the different india states , and this is because of the differences in culture . The recipe below is one of our favorites!

If some ingredients are unfamiliar to you, it's probably because they are more commonly used in India dishes. Some of these spices can be difficult to find in non-Indian grocery stores. But don't worry, Indian grocery stores are usually very quite easy to locate, and you probably have one near you!

So, let's get started with our Dal and Rice dish. This one is a little tricky, so pay attention to the directions. To prepare, here are the ingredients that you will need:

3/4 cup of Toor Dal (Split yellow lentils); you can really use any lentils you want though!

1 cup rice (any rice you prefer)

1 tablespoon of ketchup

2 tablespoons of pickled mango (this you will probably neeed to find at an Indian grocery store)

10 sprigs of cilantro

1/2 cup of peanuts

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder

1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper masala powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon of asafortida powder

*Preferably use a Pressure Cooker, if you don't have one, you can also use a pot on your stove for the Dal, and simply follow the cooking instructions that come with the rice.

Cooking instructions for Dal and Rice:

1. Rinse rice

2. Place rice in a shallow steel pan and fill pan 1 inch deep with water

3. Cover rice with a steel plate

4. Rinse Toor Dal and place in a deep pan and fill pan 2 inches deep with water

5. Cover Dal with a steel plate as well

6. Set pressure cooker by filling it with 3 inches of water and a splash of lemon juice (NOTE: If you're not using a pressure cooker, just add a splash of lemon juice to both your rice pan and your dal pan.

7. Lower the rice pan, and then on top of it, lower the dal pan into the pressure cooker and CLOSE THE PRESSURE COOKER TIGHT and set your pressure cooker to high. If you're not using the pressure cooker, then just put both the rice pan and the dal pan on the stove at medium heat, and mostly covered (Make sure to allow a little space for some of the heat to escape or the pans will boil over, be sure and keep an eye on each as they cook).

8. Your pressure should sound (Make a startling whistling sound) 4 to 5 times before the food is cooked.

9. Take the pressure cooker off of the heat so that the steam will de-pressurize. Never attempt to open the pressure cooker right after cooking is complete, just wait a few minutes.

10. Now, open pressure cooker and remove your rice pan and set aside.

11. Use a hand mixer to blend the dal that is cooling in its pan

12. Grab a new medium sized pot and heat your oil in it on high

13. Drop your mustard seeds into the oil and wait for them to pop

14. Drop in asafortida powder

15. Now pour the dal from its original pan into this spice and oil pan

16. Boil in the pan on the stove

17. Add pickled mango

18. Add in peanuts

19. Stir until the dal is soft when you stir

20. Garnish with cilantro and serve with the rice that we prepared earlier

Dal and Rice is one of the tougher Indian food recipes to make, so if you did it and it taste great the first time, pat yourself on the back! If not, practice makes perfect and this one is worth it.

Return to the homepage

New! Comments