Hyderabadi Toor Dal (Hyderabad Pigeon Pea Dal)

We had a few vegetable curries already, but none of them were very proteinaceous. I had been contemplating making something beef-based, but this dal was more expedient. (And it used up the last of the diced tomato in the fridge!)

As written, the recipe calls for ghee as the fat with canola oil as the fall-back if ghee is not available. And, while I think canola oil would be... fine. I don't think it's necessarily the best choice. Personally, if you can't use ghee (for reasons of health, dietary restrictions, or lack of availability), then I would recommend substituting either coconut oil or mustard oil. I think either one would make a great replacement here.

I cut back the water slightly when making this dal. The original recipe called for cooking the peas in 3 c. of water and then adding an additional 1/2 c. with the sauce. I omitted the sauce water and just cooked the peas in the prescribed amount of liquid. This was fine, but I think I would have preferred my dal even thicker. Next time I might try cooking the legumes in just 2 1/2 c. of water and see how that turns out. (This change is reflected below.)

Hyderabadi Toor Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toover dal)
• 2 1/2 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 tbsp. garlic paste
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves
• ~1 c. diced tomato (fresh or canned)
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse the pigeon peas.
2. Drain the peas, then add to a pressure cooker/InstantPot with the water.
3. Pressure cook on "high" for 10 minutes, then allow for a 15-minute natural release.
4. Meanwhile, heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
5. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they stop popping (30-60 seconds).
6. Add the onion, ginger paste, garlic paste, and curry leaves and stir-fry for ~5 minutes.
7. Add the tomato, salt, ground chilies, and turmeric and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
8. Once peas are done, pour the contents of the pan into the pressure cooker with the legumes.
9. Scrape out the pan very well. If necessary, ladel a bit of the dal into the pan and swish it out. You may opt to use a little bit of water either instead or as well here, but be careful not to thin the dal out too much.
10. Simmer the dal over medium heat for another 5 minutes.
11. Serve with roti or another flatbread of your choice.

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Variants

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toover dal)
• 2 1/2 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. coconut or mustard oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 tbsp. garlic paste
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves
• ~1 c. diced tomato (fresh or canned)
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

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¹ Or 3/4 tsp. sweet paprika + 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne. ^Back