Goan Masoor Dal Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Goan Masoor Dal Recipe

A comforting one-pot Goan Masoor Dal recipe with deep flavors, packed with nutrients, and perfect for everyday meals to lift your spirits.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Soaking Time20

Total Time45

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian, Goan, Indian

Servings: servings

Calories: 334kcal

Author: Helene Dsouza

Equipment

Ingredients

To Soak Lentils

1½ cup Red Lentils aka Masoor Dal
Water to top

To Cook Lentils

1 medium Onion sliced
1 Tomato diced
1 Green Chili Pepper optional, I frequently omit this.
Cilantro Fresh chopped, to garnish
2 Tablespoon Oil vegetable, canola, sunflower
1 Teaspoon Brown Mustard Seeds
Curry Leaves a few, fresh
¼ Teaspoon Asafoetida aka Hing, optional
⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper
½ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Ground or red chili pepper (e.g. Kashmiri chili)
1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground
1½ Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground
1½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground
1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic I use paste *see Notes
1-2 cups Water adjust to your needs
Salt to taste

US - Metric

Instructions

Wash lentils in fresh water repeatedly until the water is clear.
1½ cup Red Lentils, Water
Cover dried masoor lentils with water and soak for 10–20 minutes.
Prep vegetables. Slice onion, dice tomato, slip green chili open lengthwise and also keep the freshly chopped coriander ready, which you will need to garnish the dish.
1 medium Onion, 1 Tomato, 1 Green Chili Pepper, Cilantro Fresh
Keep fresh clean curry leaves ready and all the other spices and ingredients as well.
Keep your pan over a lower heat setting and pour in oil. Wait for the oil to get a bit hot. Once hot stir in mustard seeds, green chili and fresh curry leaves to temper them briefly (careful, mustard seeds jump when the oil and pan are too hot). I temper for less than a minute in the hot oil because I don't want the mustard seeds to turn bitter.
2 Tablespoon Oil, 1 Teaspoon Brown Mustard Seeds, Curry Leaves, 1 Green Chili Pepper
Stir in the sliced onion and sauté over a medium-low heat setting for a minute. Stir in diced tomatoes and sauté covered until the tomato turns a bit soft.
1 medium Onion, 1 Tomato
Reduce the heat and make some space in the center of the pan to drop in the ground spices to temper lightly (this releases all essential oils and flavors). Add one by one, the asafoetida, ground black pepper, ground red chili pepper/cayenne, turmeric powder, coriander seed powder and ground cumin. Stir-cook briefly and control the heat.
¼ Teaspoon Asafoetida, ⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper, ½ Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper Ground, 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Ground, 1½ Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground, 1½ Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground
Make some space again at the center of your pan and stir in ginger garlic over a lower heat setting (careful, the paste jumps when the pan is too hot).
1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic
Stir in soaked red masoor lentils and pour in extra water and a pinch of salt.
1½ cup Red Lentils, 1-2 cups Water, Salt
Cook on a medium heat setting for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until done, and you are satisfied with the consistency, stirring occasionally so that nothing burns on. If you feel your masoor dal needs more water, then just add a little more to adjust the dish consistency (sometimes depends on the quality and age of the lentils).
Adjust salt seasoning.
Salt
When done cooking, take out and discard the green chili pepper. The curry leaves can be left in the masoor dal as they are edible, but you can take them out if you don't like chewing on leaves (this is why I use young tender leaves only).
Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro (Coriander)
Cilantro Fresh

Notes

For the Ginger + Garlic, use ginger garlic paste or grate ⅓ ginger and ⅔ garlic fine.

Don't confuse ingredients! You need to use brown/black/red mustard seeds (never the yellow mustard seeds) and add curry leaves (and not curry powder, as it's something wholly different). Don't omit these ingredients, they make this dish.

You may adjust the chili/cayenne pepper heat.

We avoid adding salt to the dish at the beginning because with salt the lentils take longer to cook through. (old European wisdom). But you can add the salt earlier on if you prefer.

The water can be substituted with broth too when you prepare the dish for extra flavor.

Nutrition