Green lentil curry

This instant pot green lentil curry is a comforting and delicious dal recipe from India. Serve it with some fragrant basmati rice or any Indian bread of choice to enjoy a simple Indian meal at home. It's a vegan and gluten-free recipe.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian, North Indian

Diet Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Pressure release time 10

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 184kcal

Author Vandana Chauhan

Equipment

Instant pot
Spatula
Knife and chopping board

Ingredients

1 cup green lentils
1 medium red onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 large tomato finely chopped
2 green chilies finely chopped
¼ cup cilantro
Juice of half a lemon around 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon cooking oil of choice
3 cups hot water

Instructions

Before starting any other preparation, rinse green lentils and soak them in water.
Switch on the instant pot and select saute mode for 15 minutes.
Add cooking oil and let it heat up for around a minute.
Add cumin seeds and let them splutter for a few seconds.
Add chopped garlic and onion. Saute until the onion starts turning brown.
Add all the powdered spices and saute for a few seconds.
Quickly add chopped tomatoes, green chilies, and salt. Cook until the tomatoes turn mushy.
Discard the water in which the lentils were soaked and add the soaked lentils to the instant pot. Saute for a minute.
Add hot water and mix. Cancel the saute mode.
Seal the lid of the instant pot. Select high pressure and a cooking time of 10 minutes.
When the timer stops allow the pressure to get released naturally for 10 minutes then vent to release the pressure completely.
Once all the pressure gets released, open the lid of the instant pot.
Stir well.
Add lemon juice and chopped cilantro. Mix.

Video

Notes

I have used instant pot duo plus of size 6 quart (5.7 ltrs) to make this green lentil recipe.
Please note that the instant pot will take some time to create the required pressure (around 7-8 minutes), the pressure cooking time will start after that.
Use hot water in instant pot recipes, it will reduce the pressure-building time.
In India water is used to cook lentils but if you want you can use vegetable broth too.
Powdered spices get burned very easily, to avoid that you can mix the powdered spices with 1-2 tablespoons of water before adding them to the pot.
To make this dish more delicious and nutritious, add some roughly chopped fresh spinach or other leafy greens of choice, once the lentils are cooked. Then turn on the saute mode and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the leaves get wilted.
To make a coconut lentil curry recipe, add a can of coconut milk along with water. Reduce the amount of water if you are adding coconut milk too. Both creamy coconut milk and light coconut milk are fine. Pick whichever you prefer. The addition of coconut milk will give this dish a more creamy texture.
You may add more or less water depending on the consistency of lentil curry you prefer.
If your dal is too thick, add some hot water and cook for 2-3 minutes on saute mode.
If your dal is too runny, select the saute mode and cook dal until it thickens.
You can also cook brown lentils following the same recipe but pressure cook it for a lesser time (around 8 minutes).
More recipe tips, tricks, and variation suggestions are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.

Nutrition