Instant Pot Dal and Rice is the most delicious Indian comfort food. Toor dal or Yellow Split Pigeon Pea cooked with onions, tomatoes and flavorful spices, along with pot-in-pot basmati rice for a complete meal. This is a vegan & gluten free Dal Fry!
Dal and Rice are the staple foods in many Indian homes. It is basically a lentil stew made with split pigeon peas and served with rice. It is also known as Varan Bhaat in Marathi.
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Watch How to Make Indian Dal Tadka / Dal Fry with Basmati Rice
What is Dal?
Dal is basically dried pulses. These dried pulses can be whole or split. Dal is also used as a term for various soups prepared with these dried pulses. It is also called Daal, Dahl, or Dhal.
Dal is the main protein dish for many vegetarians, and hence, it is a dish prepared almost every day in an Indian home. Every region in India makes dal in different ways. In North India, it is made by tempering it with cumin, curry leaves, onion, and tomato. In South India, it is used to make sambar.
You will find it interesting that all of over India, dal is prepared in a stovetop pressure cooker. Hence, it is a perfect dish for many in your electric pressure cooker or instant pot. Check out 10+ Instant Pot Lentils recipes.
Lentils used for Pressure Cooker Dal Fry
Toor dal, or Yellow Split Pigeon Pea or Arhar Dal, is one of the most popular dal made in India. The cooked toor dal is also popularly called Dal Tadka or Dal Fry. Dal tadka is very quick to prepare and can be ready in minutes. It is one of the easiest to make for a weeknight dinner.
I have also shared a different, slightly sweeter preparation of toor dal in this delicious Gujarati Dal recipe.
Toor Dal Nutrition
Toor dal is from the legume family and has a number of health benefits.
- It contains Folic acid, an important vitamin for all women.
- Toor dal contains protein and dietary fiber. Legumes such as toor dal are especially beneficial for vegetarians as they provide the necessary protein.
- Toor dal also contains carbohydrates, which our body needs to generate energy. They contain complex carbohydrates, which are digested slowly by the body and are much better than simple carbohydrates.
How to make Indian Dal Fry in Instant Pot?
This recipe shows how to make Dal Fry in Instant Pot. The main difference in this preparation is that I made it as a one-pot recipe. Usually, we boil the dal separately and then add the tadka in it, as shown in this dal tadka recipe. In this recipe, I cook the tadka in the pot before adding the dal and cook the dal along with the tadka.
Start with heating oil in the instant pot. Then, add cumin seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida, and garlic. Once the garlic is lightly browned, add chopped onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Lightly brown the onions, then add chopped tomatoes and spices. Add toor dal and water. No need to soak the dal for this recipe.
The below steps show pot-in-pot basmati rice cooked along with the yellow lentils. More details about pot-in-pot are below.
Pressure Cook for 5 minutes and then release the pressure 5 minutes after the beep. Garnish with cilantro and additional garam masala if you like a spice kick. Don’t worry if the dal does not look well mixed when you open the pot. Stir it well, and it will be delicious.
If you do soak the dal for 2 hours, you can reduce the cooking time to 3 minutes for toor dal.
A note about consistency – In North India, dal is preferred so that each grain can be seen and not all mushed up. However, I know in South India that, the preference is to cook dal to a consistency of sambar, where each grain is not visible, and it is more like a smooth soup. For this consistency, pressure cook for 8-10 minutes at high pressure.
Dal Fry with Pot-in-Pot Basmati Rice
One of the big advantages of the Instant Pot is – the option to do Pot-in-Pot Cooking or PIP. This means being able to cook multiple things at a time by also cooking in a small pot inside the main pot. To cook pot-in-pot, you need a tall trivet and stainless steel containers that you can use within the main pot.
Another important thing with pot-in-pot cooking is to consider the cooking time for the dishes you want to cook together. As an example, toor dal takes about 5 mins to cook at high pressure, and basmati rice takes about 4-6 mins at high pressure. Hence, if I add rice pot-in-pot with these lentils, they will cook well. I would not cook brown rice along with these lentils, however they would work well with kidney beans that cook in 30 mins at high pressure.
Learn more about the instant pot pot-in-pot method with this comprehensive guide!
Once you add all the ingredients for Dal in the instant pot, place the trivet and then the bowl of rice with water. This way, they will both cook together. See the pictures above for reference.
Enjoy dal served over basmati rice and some homemade ghee (this would make it non-vegan)!
Why you will love this Instant Pot Dal & Rice?
√ It is easy to make in the instant pot with very little active time needed.
√ Healthy, nutritious & protein rich
√ This dal be made ahead and freezes well.
√ Vegan & Gluten free
If you like this Dal Fry, you might like these below lentil recipes too:
Instant Pot Dal Tadka / Dal Fry with Basmati Rice
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 Green Chili Pepper, sliced into 2 pieces or chopped
- 6 Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta)
- 1/4 teaspoon Asafoetida (Hing), optional, skip for gluten-free
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1/2 Onion, finely chopped
- 1 Tomato, finely chopped
- 1 cup Split Pigeon Pea (Toor dal), washed
- 3 cup Water
- Cilantro, to garnish
Spices
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Chili powder (Mirchi powder)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
For Basmati Rice
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 1.25 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil, (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Salt, (optional)
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in sauté mode and heat the oil in it. Add cumin seeds, green chili, curry leaves, garlic and asafoetida.
- After the garlic turns light brown, add the chopped onions and cook for 2 minutes until the onions turn golden brown.
- Add tomato and spices and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the washed dal and water. Stir it all up.
- Place the trivet. In a bowl, add all ingredients for basmati rice and place it on top of the trivet. Close the lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the instant pot setting to manual or pressure cook mode at high pressure for for 5 mins. After the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then release the pressure manually (5 minute NPR).
- Using tongs, carefully take out the bowl of basmati rice. Then take out the trivet.
- Garnish with cilantro and stir. Optionally, sprinkle the juice of half a lemon. Dal tadka is ready to be served.
Easy & Delicous!!
Hi – So glad you enjoyed it! 😊
Thank you so much for this recipe.
For years I’ve enjoyed Tadka Dal and Dal Tadka in ready meal packages I get at the local Indian grocery. I am looking forward to making my own from scratch. Please, let me know if NPR means “no pressure release” or “natural pressure release”, as I am new to pressure cookers.
Thanks again!
Hi – You’re very welcome! I’m so glad you’re excited to make your own Tadka Dal from scratch—it’ll be even better homemade! NPR stands for Natural Pressure Release, which means letting the pressure in the Instant Pot release on its own, rather than using the quick release method.
Thank you for this recipe! It’s now my kids’ favourite meal bar none. Everyone I have served it to loves it as well. It’s easy, tasty and pennies per portion. I have never commented on a recipe before but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate this one!
Hi – So happy to hear this is a family favorite! Thanks for the kind words! 😊
can you pleeeeease update the recipe card to include how the quantity of dal?
never mind! I’m a little blind today
Your site is my go-to for all things Indian, so thank you.
While I have an IP, I would like to try this stove top (rice separate, of course). Any timing suggestions or tips would be welcome!
Hi Laurie – Thank you! You can make the dal on the stovetop, just add 1/2 cup more water and cook till the dal is tender. It will take about 15-20 minutes. You will need to stir frequently. Traditionally, the lentils were boiled separately until tender and then mixed with the tempering made with the onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and spices. But either way will work fine.
I made this recipe and thought it was fantastic. I loved how the basmati rice (pot in pot) turned out perfect! I looked at the”You may also like” recipes and was extremely disappointed they all call for soaking the beans or lentils for a lifetime! Why own an instant if you’re going g to soak beans over night?!😲😔
Hi David – Happy to hear you enjoyed the dal. Soaking the beans is not necessarily for saving cooking time. It also helps with digestion of the beans. In most recipes, you will find some notes for the cooking time if you prefer to not soak the beans.
Excellent recipe…2 questions: 1) if I double recipe do I double water for the dal and 2) for the pot in pot basmati rice do I put lid in the rice pot?
Hi Mary – Yes, I would recommend to double the water if doubling the quantity of dal. You don’t need to cover the pot-in-pot rice with a lid.
I live in a space without a real kitchen and I’m not much of a cook. I just bought an air fryer and then an Instant Pot. This is the first thing I made in the Instant Pot and it is amazing. Thank you for making Indian recipes accessible to those with limited means and experience! I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Yana!