Moong Masoor Dal

Name: Moong Masoor Dal
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 125 g (¾ cup) red lentils; 125 g (¾ cup) yellow lentils; 4 cups water (more as required.); 1 onion (cut in four pieces); 2 tomatoes (cut in four pieces); ¾ tablespoon green chilli paste; 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste; 1 teaspoon red chilli powder (or more to taste); 1 teaspoon turmeric powder; 1 teaspoon coriander powder; ½ teaspoon cumin seed; ½ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder ((garam masala)); 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste); ½ cup oil (or less); 1 onion (thinly sliced); ½ teaspoon cumin seeds; ½ inch ginger (julienned); 3 cloves garlic (sliced); 6 dried button chili; 2 green chillies (cut in half, optional); Chopped cilantro

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5 from 6 votes

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Make this easy peasy moong masoor dal in less than 30 minutes! Just dump all ingredients of this Pakistani daal in the pot and let it cook. Meanwhile, prepare for the tempering and make rice. It's that easy and satisfying meal! I've tried all other complicated methods and I promise this simple method makes the best dal.

Moong Masoor Dal is a lentil soup made with yellow and red lentils. The lentils are cooked with onion, tomato, and Indian spices until mushy. Then it is tempered with cumin and garlic. It is commonly eaten in India and Pakistan and served with zeera rice and roti. Usually, a pickle and kachumber salad is served along.

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Benefits
Ingredients
How to make it?
Recipe FAQs
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💬 Comments

For me, moong masoor daal is LAZY day lunch. Soothing, comforting, and super easy. My mom would make this dal whenever our cook took an off between working days. Like, she would just boil the lentil and go to work. After school, I would blend and add the tempering.

Since Moong masoor daal is a staple so on the last days of the month before you could do your monthly grocery, daal always comes in handy to cook. I'd like to keep an endless supply of onion tomato and yellow lentils at home.

Benefits

Yellow lentils are a potent source of fiber and plant-based protein. They also contain nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, folic acid, iron, and vitamin B6. Yellow lentils are richer in iron while red lentils are richer in potassium.

If you avoid lentils due to flatulence yellow lentil is the safest to eat compared to Bengal lentil and skinned black gram (mash ki daal). Always soak dal for at least 20 minutes and discard the water. Cook daal in fresh water.

The soaking not only increases nutritional value making the nutrients available to absorb but also eases the digestive process. If you are new to eating lentils, you might this information by Well and Good useful.

If you like vegetarian Pakistani food, you have to try sabut masoor dal, kadhi pakora, aloo gobi matar, and bhindi masala.

Ingredients

You'd find the repetition of ingredients like onion and garlic in the list. Because we'd be adding these to both lentil soup and tempering. Have a look at more ingredients.

Lentils: We are using two lentils in this recipe, you can clearly see the photo to identify them. Moong dal is a split and skinned green gram, commonly known as a yellow lentil. Masoor dal is split is skinned and split brown lentil that is commonly known as a red lentil. Both lentils can be easily found in most superstores and Indian stores.
Onion tomato cut: We'll be using onion and tomato cut into eight pieces. The chunks are more likely to dissolve easily in the soup compared to finely sliced cuts.
Spices: We'll be using ginger, garlic, and chilies in the wet spices. While we are using five powdered spices: chili, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and garam masala.
Tempering: We need sliced onion, sliced garlic, julienne ginger, cumin, and dry red chili for tempering.
Dry red chili: I used button red chili, but you can use any dry red chili you like. Our fresh chili would do the job. If you have curry leaves in hand, they also taste great in tempering.
Garnish: We like cilantro and chilies for garnish because we love spicy food. You may add butter as well.

How to make it?

Moong masoor dal is the easiest of all daal recipes.

Rinse both lentils and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes. After soaking, discard the water.
Now fill 4 cups of water in the pot and add tomatoes, onions, and all ingredients to the Spices list. Cover the lid and boil for 20 minutes on medium heat or until very soft. Alternatively, you may pressure cook for 10 minutes. (Pro tip: You may cook dal for 45 minutes, the longer you cook, the softer and tastier it is.)
Mash the dal with a potato masher for 5 minutes until it looks like a puree. (Traditionally, a GHOTNA tool is used to mash DAAL or HALEEM)
That's what the dal looks like after mashing, but if you like smooth dal like me blend it—just a few whizzes for a semi-smooth consistency.

In a pan, onion slices on medium until slightly golden. When onions are about to get golden add all remaining ingredients which are cumin, sliced garlic, red chili, and ginger.
Give it all of it a stir, and fry until onions are fully golden.
Add tempering to daal pot. Cover the lid and simmer daal for 10 minutes on the lowest heat. (You can save some tempering for garnish if you like.)
Add more water to daal, if needed, to reach desired consistency. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander /cilantro leaves. And serve with roti or rice.

Tips of making Moong Masoor Dal

I used a mix of yellow and red lentils in equal; proportions. But actually, you can use just red lentils (250 grams) or just yellow lentils (250 grams) and follow the recipe as it is. A mix of lentils adds more flavor and increases the nutritional value as well.
You can skip soaking (I do it often when making daal unplanned) but soaking makes the lentil get really tender and helps digestion.
Served it with rice, roti, lemon pickle, and fresh kachumber salad.

How to make Kaboli?

Smoked Kaboli tastes so yummy, it's a next-level daal experience.

You can mix roti ( broken into small bites) rice, sliced onion, and lots of daal in a bowl. Then smoke it. (To smoke: Keep red hot charcoal on a foil, over daal roti mixture. Then pour a few drops of oil and cover the lid immediately to trap smoke. Keep the bowl covered for 5 minutes. Serve with more daal and your favorite pickle. Enjoy.

If you love dal, do check Sarah's Lentil Cauliflower Curry, it's so creamy.

Recipe FAQs

Can I mix Moong dal with masoor dal?

Yes, moong and masoor dal mixed in South Asian culture to make delicious moong masoor dal. Both lentils have similar cooking times making them a good combo.

How to avoid gas caused by lentils?

You can avoid flatulence or gas caused by lentils by soaking them and discarding the water, then cooking lentils. This helps easy digestion. Add lentils slowly to your diet and prefer consuming lentils in lunch instead of dinner.

Which dal causes flatulence or gas?

Bengal lentils and black lentils are more likely to cause gas compared to yellow and red lentils.

Hungry for Indian/Pakistani curries?

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