Sabut Masoor Dal | Brown Lentils Recipe

Brown lentils or sabut masoor dal is a delicious and nutritious recipe. Pairs so well with rice or rotis and tastes just fantastic.

Dal and rice is soul food in the Indian cuisine. Served with a salad on the side, it is a tasty meal on any day.

These brown lentils or sabut masoor dal is a favourite in my home and made weekly at least once.

You will also love palak dal, Yellow dal tadka, Kulith dal, chana masala.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

So Nutritious: Sabut masoor dal is an excellent source of plant-based protein, complex carbs, fibre and essential vitamin and minerals.

Cheap: Lentils are cheap and can be afforded by everyone.

Easy recipe: Brown lentils are so easy to make. You can make a large batch and refrigerate for later meals as well.

Comfort food: Serve with boiled rice and a salad for a complete meal. Not to mention how comforting this meal is.

Ingredients

Sabut Masoor Dal (Whole Brown Lentils) – I have used 1 cup in this recipe.

Onion – 1 medium onion finely chopped is used in this recipe.

Tomatoes – 2 medium-sized tomatoes are used here.

Ginger and garlic: 1.5 tsp. Ginger and garlic minced is used here. You can also use ginger garlic paste.

Green chillies: I use two green chillies for some heat. This is optional.

For tadka or tempering

Spices: Turmeric powder, ground coriander, garam masala and paprika or red chilli powder is used.

Oil: 1 tbsp. of oil is used for tempering. If you eat dairy, you can use ghee as is traditionally done.

Salt is used to taste.

Cilantro: Chopped cilantro and lemon juice is used for garnish.

Variations and Substitutions

Richer taste: You can use vegan butter or ghee (for those who eat dairy) to add richness to its taste. Add 1 tsp. at the time of serving.

Add other lentils: You can use a combination of lentils like toor dal, green moong beans and so on for this recipe for varied nutrition and taste.

Add other vegetables: You can add vegetables like broccoli, carrot, beans, mushrooms etc. Saute them separately in some oil or add them to the lentils after the lentils are cooked for a tastier soup like dal.

Serving Suggestions

As a soup: I often have sabut masoor dal as a soup with some breadsticks or rotis on the side.

With boiled rice: In Indian cuisine, these brown lentils are served with boiled rice and a side of salad. It is delicious.

With roti or naan: This is a good combination as well. Serve with some sautéed vegetables on the side.

With quinoa or Upma: Lentils work really well with boiled quinoa, couscous, Upma as a tasty side.

Instructions (Stovetop Pressure Cooker)

Wash 1 cup brown lentils and soak for an hour in 3 cups water.

I most often than not, just cook it without soaking.

Wash sabut masoor dal with water and add to the manual pressure cooker with 3 cups water.

Add 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped medium tomatoes, 1 tsp. ginger garlic paste or minced and 2 green chillies (optional) slit.

Add turmeric powder and close the lid.

Cook for about 5-6 whistles and allow the pressure to release naturally.

Your dal must be mushy and well cooked.

If you soak the lentils, you can reduce the cooking time and will need only about 3-4 whistles.

Using the back of your ladle, lightly mash the lentils.

Add about 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Add salt to taste. Add ground coriander, garam masala and cayenne (optional).

Temper this dal by heating about 1 tbsp. of oil in a small pan. Add 1 tsp. cumin seeds and ¼ tsp. heeng and allow cumin to sputter.

Add in 2 dry red chillies and 1 tbsp. crushed garlic.

Let it cook for about 20 seconds, add some paprika or Kashmiri chilli powder for a bright red colour and turn off the gas.

Pour it on the boiling lentils and mix well. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot. 

This method keeps the tempering fresh and vibrant and gives a lovely taste to dal.

I prefer this method if I have made a large batch of dal. I just heat the dal and give it a fresh tempering for a very close to freshly cooked dal in taste.

Your brown lentils are ready to eat.

Alternative: You can also do the tempering first along with lightly sautéing the onion, ginger and garlic and tomatoes in the oil in the pressure cooker.

Once everything is mushy, add the raw lentils with water and seasonings and cook the dal. You can do it this way as well.

Finally garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot.

Here, there is no final tempering at the end.

Instructions (Instant Pot)

Turn the instant pot on and set it in sauté mode. Heat oil and add cumin seeds, dry red chillies and heeng in.

Fry for 30 seconds. Now add 1 chopped onion and ginger and garlic paste.

Fry till it is golden brown. Then add chopped tomatoes and fry for 3 minutes till it is mushy.

Add washed lentils, water and salt. Cancel the sauté mode.

Add turmeric powder and washed brown lentils.Close the Instant Pot lid, set the valve to sealing.

Pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow natural pressure release.

Open the lid and add some water to thin down the dal if needed. 

Add in the garam masala, ground coriander and cayenne (optional). Stir well.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Your instant pot masoor dal is ready to serve.

Expert Tips

1. Soaking the lentils helps in expediting the cooking time. It is not mandatory though but it will take longer to cook.

2. Pressure cooking either on stove top or Instant pot is preferred because these lentils will take too long to cook in a regular pan.

3. You can vary the spices as per your taste.

4. If you don’t like heat, skip the green chillies and the cayenne.

5. You can make a large batch of the dal and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an air tight container. Heat and serve.

Add more water to thin down the dal.

6. You can freeze this dal for upto 3 months in a freezer-safe container. Thaw and reheat before serving.

7. At any step, you can add more water to the dal if it is very thick for you, especially after storing.

Here’s the recipe card:

📖 Recipe Card