Pyaj Diye Masoor Dal | Masoor Dal Recipe

Pyaj Diye Masoor Dal | Masoor Dal Recipe

Author: Rumki Paul
Course: Main
Cuisine: Bengali
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4-5 Persons

Pyaj Diye Masoor Dal is one of the most popular and regularly cooked Masoor Dal Recipes in every Bengali houses. It is a super light and super healthy dish. It is the amalgamation of red lentils with Onions, Tomatoes, Cumin seeds and Nigella seeds. This dal goes superb with Steamed rice and Aloo Bhaji.

This Masoor Dal Recipe can get prepared instantly without any hassle. If you are running short of time, then this recipe can help you out very pleasantly. It is not only easy to prepare but is super delicious too. To prepare this dal, very limited and regularly used ingredients required.

Masoor dal is prepared in hundreds of ways in India. Every state and every cuisine have different ranges of dishes prepared with this dal. I have already shared few of them like Masoor dal tamatari, Masoor dal bharta, Masoor dal dalia khichdi, Masoor dal seddho etc.

Masoor Dal is one of the most preferable Dals during summers. After coming back from scorching Sun, we all want to have some light, non-spicy food. This Dal Recipe is ideal for those days.

In my childhood, after coming back from school during summer, my Mom used to serve me this magical Bengali Pyaj-Masoor Dal with hot steamed Rice and Aloo bhaji with ghee. After spending whole day in sweat and thrust, having this meal was like a treat to me. It is my all-time favourite meal during summer. This dish will be a true friend during all such occasions.

How to have Pyaj-Masoor Dal?

If you are Bengali, then you already know to pair up Bengali Pyaj-Masoor Dal with steamed Rice and Omelette or Aloo Bhaji (Potato Fry) and you have won the war. You will surely get a complete meal very easily by spending very little time. You must try it once to believe.

In fact, if you are recovering from cough-cold or fever and you have lost your appetite, Bengali Pyaj-Masoor Dal works like magic to get your appetite back. The Nigella seeds, used in this dal recipe, are very good for curing cough and cold. Specially, for children this dal is a boon both for their health and exploring taste-buds. It is very common that children go to school and get infected by bacteria and virus very easily and often get cough and cold or fever. You can even have the Dal’s water as soup. That is also very healthy and effective in these conditions.

Health benefits of Red Lentils

How to make Masoor dal?

The Masoor Dal Recipe is cooked in Mustard oil. Bengalis generally cook it in Mustard oil because you will not get the authentic aroma by using other oils.

I have used Nigella seeds and Cumin seeds for the tempering of this recipe. Both the spices are equally important for the flavouring of the dish.

I have used Onions, Tomatoes and green Chillies in this dal. The flavour of Onion goes superb with Nigella seeds. Few people also add Garlic along with Onions, but I prefer no Garlic. If you like the flavour of Garlic, you can add it as well.

In this preparation, I have not used any ground spice other than Turmeric powder. I have prepared this dal in pressure cooker for saving time but you can also use Kadai to prepare this dal.

Step by step photos and instruction for Pyaj Diye Masoor Dal have been provided in the ‘Instructions’ section of the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Masoor dal (red Lentils)
• 1 large Onion, thinly sliced
• 1 Tomato, deseeded and diced
• 1 green Chilli
• ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• ½ teaspoon Nigella seeds (Kalonji)
• ½ tsp Turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil for cooking
• 3 ½ Cups of Water

1. Wash and soak Masoor dal (red Lentils) for 10 minutes and then drain the water.
   

2. Put 1 tablespoon Mustard oil into the pressure cooker in high flame.
3. Once the oil is hot, put Cumin seeds and Nigella seeds.
   

4. Sauté them for few seconds till they crackle.
5. Add Onion into the pressure cooker and cook till it becomes translucent.
   

6. Add Tomatoes and green Chilli and cook it for another 2 minutes.
   
   

7. Add Salt, Turmeric powder and mix it well.
   

8. Add Masoor dal and cook it for few seconds.
   

9. Add 2.5 cups of water and stir it well.
   

10. Cook it in low medium flame for 1-2 whistles.
11. Let the pressure settle down, take off the lid.
    

12. Stir the dal, add 1 cup of water and let it cook for another 2 minutes in high flame until the dal simmers.
    

    Note: The consistency of Pyaj Diye Masoor Dal is thinner than normal dal recipes.

13. Switch off the flame and put the cooker down.