This is an Instapot recipe. If you’re using your stove top instead, it’s going to take a bit longer to cook.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Cup Red Lentils
- 3.5 Cups Water
- 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
- Salt, according to the taste
- 1 Medium Tomato, chopped (or half a cup canned fire roasted tomatoes)
For Tempering
- 1.5 Tbsp Oil or Ghee
- 1/2 Tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2 Dry Red Chilis
- Pinch of asafoetida (get it here thru our affiliate program at Amazon)
- 4 Big Cloves of finely chopped garlic
- 1 Tbsp Fresh chopped Cilantro (just the leaves)
INSTRUCTIONS
Turn the sauté button of Instant pot on. Add washed red lentils, water, salt, turmeric powder and chopped tomatoes to the pot. Stir everything around and make sure lentils are covered with water.
Close the lid and cook it on high pressure for 2 minutes. Remove the pressure manually.
Remove the lid and with a hand held whisker whisk the lentils to make it creamy. It will take 30 seconds to do that.
To Temper or Not to Temper
The spices used for tempering can be simply added to your soup. Instead of red chilis, use cayenne pepper. Instead of cumin seeds, use a half teaspoon of cumin seed powder. You can garnish with the cilantro.
If Tempering
Take a small tempering pan. Add oil/ghee to it. Heat it. When it’s hot enough, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, and dry red chilis to it. Let it crackle. That will take another 30 seconds.
Now is the time to add chopped garlic to it. Let it cook in the oil for 1 minute till it looks light brown.
Remove the cooked mixture (dal, the Hindi word) into a serving bowl. Drizzle all the tempering over it.
Sprinkle some lime/lemon juice and garnish with fresh cilantro.
You can serve it plain or over rice or noodles. Just depends on how low you want to keep the carbs.
