Masoor Dal – Split Red Lentils without Skin

An Ayurvedic recipe for split red lentils without skin which is known as Masoor Dal in India

In my series of Indian cooking recipes online, I have until now only mentioned one kind of Dal, Arhar or Toor Dal. Dal, lentils, is with rice one of the main and basic dishes of an Indian meal and as you eat it thus nearly every day, there are thousands of recipes on how to prepare it. There are also many different kinds of lentils and today I would like to write the recipe for Masoor Dal. This, too, you can cook in many different ways. We will prepare split red lentils without skin which gives a fully different taste than the whole lentils. Masoor Dal gets soft more quickly than Toor Dal and with some practice is an easy and very delicious Indian dish. We will of course add spices in a way that makes it also healthy and balancing from an Ayurvedic point of view.

How to prepare this Masoor Dal

Wash the lentils thoroughly in a sieve before you put them with the water in a pot. Place the pot on the stove on high heat and after adding salt and turmeric you close the lid. Stay close to your stove until the water starts boiling. Stir and stop the water from over-boiling. At this point you can then turn the heat down to a low flame and let the lentils boil until they are soft. Churn from time to time.

In the meantime you can cut the tomatoes into small pieces and, when the Dal is about to get soft, you can start preparing your tadka, the mixture of spices. You heat up the Ghee in a pan and, when it is hot, add cumin, bay leaves, asafetida, coriander and the curry leaves in the pan. Reduce the heat of the pan at this point. Stir the spices so that they develop a nice aroma and before they burn, you add the tomato pieces, heat them up and let them cook until they are mashed.

The last step is to mix the tadka with the tomatoes into the Dal. Mix it well and serve it, if you wish with some fresh coriander sprinkled on top.

Ayurvedic benefits

Red lentils reduce the Vata and Kapha in the body while they slightly increase Pitta. It is a light dal that is easily digestible. The tomatoes, as mentioned before, work as appetizers and make the whole dish just very delicious.

With the spices used we made an effort to balance the doshas. Should you however have problems with a high pitta dosha, with too much acidity in the body, there are possibilities to reduce the pitta in this dish even further. You can for example add one big cardamom as a whole when you make the tadka. It should be the first spice to put in. Another possibility to reduce the pitta is to sprinkle fresh coriander, dill and/or lemongrass over the dish in the end and eat it along.

Enjoy your meal!