Masoor dal cooked with turmeric until soft, then tempered with a hot oil pour of dried red chilli, ginger and cumin. The everyday dal of Bengali homes — simple, warming and eaten with rice twice daily.
Ingredients
1 cup masoor dal (red lentil — turns golden when cooked)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ginger — finely grated
2 green chilli — slit
salt to taste
For the tadka (tempering poured on top):
3 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji)
3 dried red chilli
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 garlic cloves — thinly sliced
a pinch of asafoetida
Method
Wash the masoor dal: Place 1 cup masoor dal in a bowl. Cover with water and run your fingers through it. The water will turn pink-red. Pour off the water. Repeat 3 to 4 times until the water is mostly clear.
Cook the dal: Place the washed masoor dal in a pot with 3 cups water, 1/2 tsp turmeric, grated ginger, slit green chilli and salt. Bring to a boil on high heat. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to medium. Cook uncovered for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the dal is completely soft and dissolves into a smooth flowing consistency. Masoor dal cooks much faster than other lentils and does not need pressure cooking.
Stir and check consistency: Stir the cooked dal well — it should flow smoothly when you tilt the pot. If too thick (like paste), add 1/2 cup more water and stir. Bengali dal is always on the thinner, soupy side. Taste and adjust salt.
Transfer to serving dish: Pour the cooked dal into a serving bowl or keep it in the pot if serving directly.
Heat mustard oil for tadka until smoking: This final pouring of hot spiced oil is called tadka or chaunk. Place a very small pan (a small ladle or a dedicated tadka pan if you have one) on high heat. Add 3 tbsp mustard oil. Heat until smoking.
Add spices to the hot oil rapidly: Reduce heat to medium. Add nigella seeds first — they will crackle. Add dried red chilli — they will darken and puff. Add cumin seeds. Add sliced garlic — it will sizzle immediately. Add a pinch of asafoetida. The whole sequence from adding nigella to adding asafoetida takes only 20 to 30 seconds. The spices should smell deeply fragrant and slightly toasted.
Pour the sizzling tadka over the dal: Immediately pour the hot spiced oil and all its contents directly over the cooked dal. It will sizzle dramatically when it hits the dal. Do not stir yet — let the flavour settle for 30 seconds.
Stir once gently: After 30 seconds, give the dal one gentle stir to distribute the tadka oil without fully mixing it in.
Taste and finish: Taste the dal one final time. If you want more sourness, squeeze a small amount of lemon juice in. Add a small pinch of sugar if desired — Bengalis often add a pinch of sugar to dal for balance.
Serve immediately: Serve the dal piping hot over steamed white rice. In Bengali households, dal is always eaten first — poured directly over rice and eaten before the fish or vegetable dishes are introduced.
Note: Masoor dal cooked this way is the daily dal of virtually every Bengali household. The distinctive Bengali technique is the final pour of smoking mustard oil tadka over the cooked dal — it is done at the last minute and the aromatic hot oil is what makes this simple dal come alive. In Bengal, the sequence of the meal is important: dal first over rice, then vegetables, then fish or meat.