Moong masoor dal is a healthy protein-rich lentil recipe. This is made in Indian way. Delicious, healthy, easy, less than 30 minutes, comfort food. Do I need any more reason to include this in my daily diet?
Moong Masoor Dal as the name says it all there are no hidden ingredients.
Dal is one of the staple food of India. This dish is prepared almost all parts of country. Also the variety and methods of preparation varies giving it different flavors.
This makes a good combination with rice or even with any kinds of flatbreads (roti). It goes well with tandoori roti or plain chapati.
Moong Masoor Dal (Indian Red Lentil Soup)
Here I have mixed yellow moong dal (de-husked green gram) and masoor (red lentils) for this recipe. However, you can also take only red lentils or yellow moongs. Moong dal brings thickness to the masoor dal in fact.
Dal or lentil is high in protein content and helps in maintaining balance of dietary protein requirement.
Related: Read my Collection of Indian Dal Recipes
In India its an everyday food and the plate or menu is incomplete without any lentils dish. In North India Dal roti is one of the main combo where as in Eastern part Dal Rice is popular combo.
They are light and at the same time the high protein content keeps you full for longer and hence this makes an excellent food for weight-loss.
But if you want to take this as weight loss diet purpose then avoid roti/bread/rice with it. Rather you can add dry roasted oat grain or it's powdered form to make this a wholesome meal.
Lentil Soup As Baby Food
If you are making this dal for your kid or toddler then add few vegetables to this like carrots, potatoes and peas/ spinach, pumpkin and mash the vegetables with dal while feeding them. This makes an excellent baby food where they will get nutrition of dal and vegetable and at the save time you may save some time as well.
Also refer my other mix vegetable & lentils soup for kids or adults. I would strongly recommend everyone should taste this mix veggie lentils soup once at least. Though it has very less spice used, this is so yummy and delicious you may not stop eating some extra bowl of dal.
When my baby was 7 - 8 months, I was giving him this soup twice a day (one small bowl). Moong and masoor dal is excellent for kids as these are easily digestible. Just blend it once to make sure there is no chunk left in bowl as babies can't chew.
Now my baby is 5 years old and he doesn't like dal at all. So I try to find out ways to include this super food to his diet. And now I knead flour with one bowl of dal and make paratha out of that dough. And luckily he likes paratha. So dal paratha is one of the best alternative for him.
How to make moong masoor dal?
This Moong & Masoor dal recipe is easy to prepare and takes 15 minutes only. If you are using a pressure cooking method (pressure cooker or instant pot), you will save a lot of time. In just 1 whistle it gets fully cooked and it just takes hardly 5 minutes. Then once the pressure reduces and the lid opens you can add the tempering to this. Add diced tomatoes while cooking dal (pressure cook).
Isn't that easy!! One thing to keep in mind, add water carefully while cooking in a pressure cooker. Don't add more water or very little to avoid burning. For 1 cup lentils, add 1.5 cup water. If it becomes thick then you can add hot water after opening lid and simmer for 2 minutes.
For tadka or tempering I prefer adding asafoetida powder as it gives a strong flavor to the dish. Other than this cumin seeds and garlic crushed are also great ingredients and have very different flavors. Sometimes I use mustard seeds and curry leaves to the tadka.
One tip: If you see more water after you pressure cook dal or lentils, then do this trick. Let it rest for 10 minutes. The thick dal will settle down at bottom and you can see clear yellowish liquid on top. Try to remove it from top slowly without mixing. Don't discard that water but store them as you can use them in curry in place of water or can consume that as one clear soup. This clear lentil soup has also got nutrition of lentils.
Recipe Card for Mixed Indian Red Lentil Soup
Moong Masoor Dal/ Mixed Lentils Soup
Ingredients
For Dal
- 1/2 cup Mung dal (Yellow Moong)
- 1/2 cup Red lentils (Masoor Dal)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 Tomato chopped or diced
- 1 1/2 cup Water
For Tampering (Tadka)
- 2 - 3 tbsp Ghee
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 4 - 6 Garlic pods crushed or finely chopped
- 4 Curry Leaves (optional)
- 2 Dried Red chillies
- 1 Green Chilli finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp Asafoetida Powder
- 2 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 2 tbsp Fresh Coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 tsp Lemon juice freshly sqeezed
Instructions
- Wash and soak dal in water for 10 minutes. Soaking for 10 minutes is optional. This is to fasten the cooking time only.
- After 10 minutes transfer dal and water in a pressure cooker. Add salt and turmeric to it. Then dice tomato and add to the dal in cooker.
- Close the lid and pressure cook for 2 whistles on medium heat. Turn off the gas and let the cooker cool and open the lid after that only.
- Once the lid opens, prepare the tadka and add it to the dal and close the lid immediately so that dal would absorb the flavor and aroma of the spices in tadka.
- For tadka, take a tadka pan or small pan. Heat 2 tbsp ghee (or refined oil). Once ghee is hot add cumin seeds and let it splutter.
- Add chopped or minced garlic and saute till it's light brown.
- Then add asafoetida powder, red chilli (dry), chopped green chillies.
- Immediately reduce to slow flame or turn off the heat (if using small tadka pan). Add coriander powder and red chilli powder and mix well with help of a spoon.
- The spices will get cooked in hot oil. Then immediately add the tadka to the dal and cover the lid.
- After 2 - 3 minutes open the lid and add chopped coriander leaves.
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