Gujarati dal, a traditional recipe, tuvar dal/pigeon peas cooked with sweet, spicy and tangy flavors, a perfect accompaniment with rice/roti.
Dal is an absolute favorite of Indian household, and mine is no different. My elder one, is a happy kid, if i serve him Rice & Dal everyday. With the varieties of dal available in Indian cuisine, you can make a different dal recipe everyday without repeating it.
Check this delicious Chana dal, simple recipe of gram dal cooked and tempered with spices. Dal Lucknowi, called the nawabi dal for its richness that comes from the milk.
This tuvar dal recipe is inspired from Sukham Ayu cookbook by Jigyasa Giri & Pratibha Jain. I haven’t followed the recipe exactly, have kept the flavor profile the same.
The cookbook is a treasure of Indian recipes. It has lots of information about ayurveda. It talks about the health benefits of cooking the traditional way. My favorite section in the book, is the variety of soups.
How to serve the dal?
Gujarati dal has a perfect consistency, not too thick nor thin. It pairs perfectly with rice or with roti/phulkas. I would recommend serving this gujarati dal with steaming hot rice, dry subzi and some pickle for a comforting meal.
Gujarati Dal
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
- Sauce pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup split red gram/pigeon peas tuvar dal
- 4-5 pieces dry soft kokum/tamarind pulp i have used tamarind pulp
- 4-5 pieces drumstick
- 4-5 pieces elephant yam i didnt use
- 1 tbsp groundnut
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder see notes
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ tsp garam masala powder
- 1 tablespoon jaggery or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- fresh coriander leaves for garnish
- fresh ginger julienes for garnish
Tempering
- 2 tsp ghee/oil
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds/ kadugu
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds/ jeera
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 4-5 nos red chilies
- 2 nos green cardamom
- 2 nis clove
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Wash and soak tuvar dal for 20 minutes. Pressure cook it with turmeric powder, adding twice the amount of water until soft. Keep aside until use.
- When the dal is cooking, prepare the vegetables you are using for the dal. I had only drumstick, you can add mixed vegetables too. Soak the tamarind in ¼ cup water and extract juice.
- Heat a kadai with oil given under tempering, splutter mustard seeds,add hing, cumin seeds, fenugreek, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf.
- Next add the drumstick to the tempering and the tamarind extract. Cover and cook for 15 minutes until the drumstick is a half cooked.
- To this add the cooked toor dal, 1 cup water, groundnuts, red chili and coriander powder and salt. I have equal amounts of red chilies and coriander seeds pulsed together, i have used this in the recipe
- Let the dal come to a boil and the drumsticks get fully cooked. This might take around another 15- 20 minutes. Once the vegetables are done. Add jaggery to the dal.
- After 2-3 minutes, garnish with fresh coriander leaves, ginger juliennes, garam masala and take it off the heat.
- Serve the dal with steaming hot rice for a comforting meal
Video
Notes
- This gujarati dal can be made with vegetables or without vegetables. i had some drumsticks in my fridge, so used the same in the recipe.
- The recipe inspired from the Sukham Ayu Cookbook. Though i havent followed the recipe to the T, i have kept the flavor profile similar.
- The original recipe uses green chilies, since i was making for my kiddos lunch i omitted green chilies and have used ½ teaspoon red chili powder instead.
I served this dal with jeera milagu rasam, cabbage-carrot subzi and vegetable saagu.
If you are looking for interesting Gujarati dishes, check the list below
- Poha Khichu, a quick and easy steamed snack using rice flakes
- Amiri khaman, a makeover given to khaman dhokla, colorful and simple tea-time snack
- Handvo pops, A cute makeover to the traditional gujarati handvo, lentil snack.
- Thepla, gujarati flatbread
- Raswale batata nu shak/potato gravy, a delicious gravy withpotato
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More Dal Recipes
- Langarwali dal, served in gurudwara’s langar
- Cholar dal, a bengali style chana dal, cooked with whole spices
- Lachko, pressure cooked toor dal mashed and tempered with spices
KrithisKitchen
Dhal looks so earthy and comforting!
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com
Raji
Nicely made daal priya..wishing you a speedy recovery.
Umm Mymoonah
Aw! It's ICC time, I can see this delicious dhal in this lovely blogosphere.
Shanavi
Love this kulambu, as u said it' simple yet delicious
Priya Suresh
Glad to know u r doing quite better now..Delicious dal, looks absolutely inviting..
Suma Gandlur
It was really yummy, wasn't it?
Suma Gandlur
Nice one. Take care, Priya.
Srivalli
Glad you joined us Priya…hope you are doing better now..
Saraswathi Ganeshan
simply delicious…
Jeyashris Kitchen
very new and intersting recipe
Unknown
Good to know that you are fine noe but take care dear and dal looks yumm.
Meena Thennaapan
Delicious Dal. Pl collect an award from http://chettinadthruminu.blogspot.com/2011/02/award.html
Great job – on your blog
veena
Lovely looking and definitely tasty dal:-)
Tea and Catchup
Delicious looking dall
Rani acharyulu
Hi Priya
Tasty and delicious Gujarati dal.
cheers
rani
Krishnaveni
delicious dal, love it
Preety
it looks great..