Kaali Masoor Ki Daal (Brown Lentils)

Kali Masoor ki Daal (brown lentils) in a copper serving dish with a tempering of onions, garlic, curry leaves, cumin and red peppers

4.67 from 3 votes

Kaali Masoor Ki Daal (Brown Lentils) accompanied with a fragrant bowl of basmati rice is Pakistani comfort food at it's best

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

tempering10

Total Time45

Course: Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian, Pakistani

Diet: Gluten Free, Halal, Hindu, Low Calorie, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: brown lentils, daal chawal, instantpot daal, kali daal, lentil curry, sabut masoor daal

Servings: people

Calories: 251kcal

Author: Nosheen Babar

Ingredients

1 cup brown lentils (Sabut masoor ki daal)
6 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp red chili powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp dhania powder
2 tbsp cooking oil (see notes)
½ onion
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 whole dry red chilies (see notes)
10 curry leaves (see notes)

Instructions

Instant Pot

Rinse the lentils in water.
Add the lentils, 6 cups of water, salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and dhania powder, and set the Instant Pot on High Pressure for 15 minutes.
Slice the ½ onion and the garlic cloves while you wait and set them aside.
Do a natural release for 15 minutes, and then open the Instant Pot cover carefully.
Set the Instant Pot on Saute and dry out any excess liquid, using a masher to create a creamy consistency.
Heat the 2 tbsp oil and start sauteeing the onion. When the onion is a deep brown, add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to brown, add the cumin seeds, dry red chilies, and curry leaves, in that order. Cook just enough to release the aroma but make sure not to let any of the ingredients burn. Pour the hot oil with all of the ingredients over the lentils (see notes)

Stove Top

Soak the lentils for 20 minutes in water.
Rinse the lentils and add them with 6 cups of water, the salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder and dhania powder to a pot and set it to cook on high heat.
Once the lentils reach a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 30 minutes.
Dice the onion and slice the garlic while waiting for the lentils to finish cooking and set aside.
Turn the flame on high and dry out the excess water and use a masher as in the other method above, to create a creamy consistency.
Heat the two tablespoons of oil and temper as described in step 6 above (Instant Pot Method).

Notes

Cooking oil - I use canola or avocado, but any other high-heat variety, such as peanut, sunflower, or grapeseed, will work just as well.

Dry red chilies - I use dry red Kashmiri chilies or dried button chilies. These are available at all South Asian stores and on Amazon. If you can't source these, use any Mexican dried red chilies as a substitute. These are usually available at most supermarkets.

Curry leaves - Curry leaves are a popular Pakistani herb with citrus notes. Used in curries, vegetables, and chutneys, a tempering of curry leaves tastes delicious in lentils. Fresh curry leaves work best, but since these can only be sourced at specialty stores, I always keep a bag of dried curry leaves from Amazon on hand to use.

Tempering - Tempering is a popular technique used in South Asian cooking. The process is to heat oil to a very high temperature and add certain spices and herbs to it. The hot fat helps to extract immense flavor from these ingredients, and when poured over the prepared daal, the explosion of flavors is a delight!

Nutrition