When I was younger, dhal was a weekly staple in our home. I remember my mom feeding me at a young age. She would mix rice, butter and dhal with her hands and form a little fistful of dhal bhat. (bhat = rice). To this day, this is a flavor that I will never forget. It’s a meal I will never forget. It’s a memory that I will always have of my mom. Eating from her hands.
As an adult, I’ve realized how versatile dhal can be. It’s been a great way to introduce spices to my babies. It’s been a great side dish to any fry meats or vegetables but also a main dish for my vegetarian daughter. Making this recipe in an instant pot makes life so much easier, especially because I always forget to soak my lentils overnight.
This meal is brings a warmth into your home in it’s flavor but also with it’s history of being a traditional staple in most Indian homes.
One of the things I do in this recipe that my mom never did was use an immersion blender to puree the lentils. This is a step more so for my kids for a smoother texture and can be left out.
You can also use different lentils and even mix them together. I’ve always loved yellow split peas. Serve hot with rice. I love dhal bhat with a spicy mango achaar (pickled mangos).
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1-2 green Thai chili peppers
- 1/2 tbsp garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 yellow onion sliced
- 1/2 cup yellow split peas or any lentil toor, masoor, mung, moong, urad dals
- 1 whole carrot peeled and sliced into rounds
- 1 tomato diced
- 2 cups Water
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 4 ounces spinach or as much as you'd like
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1/2 tsp 3 seed mixture
- 1/2 yellow onion sliced
- 1/2 tbsp garlic cloves minced
- 4 curry leaves
Ingredients
Instant Pot Dhal
Dhal Fry (optional)*
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- Add in all ingredients for the Instant Pot Dhal except the spinach. Stir all ingredients. Close pot with lid.
- Select Pressure Cook (Hi) and adjust the pressure cook time to 5 minutes. Allow 5 minutes of natural pressure release and then release the remaining pressure manually.
- While the dhal is cooking, heat ghee in a fry pan. Add 3-seed mixture, onions, garlic and curry leaves until golden. Turn off heat
- Open instant pot once pressure is release, if more water is needed, you can add 1/2 a cup now. Cook on saute mode. Mix in fried tadka mix.
- Use immersion blend to pulse ingredients together. Once you are a consistency you like, mix in spinach. Once dhal starts to bubble you can turn off the instant pot.
The dhal fry is an optional addition to this meal. I've made this instant pot dhal with or without it. If you opt out of the fry, just add the ingredients into the instant pot dhal recipe.
