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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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 an 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 to 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 steps below show pot-in-pot basmati rice cooked along with the yellow lentils. More details about pot-in-pot are below.
Pressure Cook for 8 minutes and then release the pressure 10 minutes after the beep. Garnish with cilantro. Optionally, you can also add some 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 10-12 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 critical thing to consider with pot-in-pot cooking is the cooking time for the dishes you want to cook together. For example, toor dal takes about 8 minutes to cook at high pressure, and basmati rice takes about 4-6 minutes. 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 minutes 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 can 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 8 minutes. After the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release the pressure manually.
- 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.
I tried out this recipe and without a doubt, it was delicious. My only concern is, every time I make dal and store the leftovers for later (in the refrigerator), the texture changes and the dal clumps together. Is there any way I can avoid this?
Thank you, Kiara. Lentils do soak all the liquid when cooled. I typically add a little water and heat the lentils in the microwave for 2-3 mins depending on the quantity. Do let me know if that helps!
I have an ultra and do not have manual mode. Do I just press the pressure cook button on high for 5 minutes?
Hello Rimmy – Yes, use pressure cook button at high pressure. It is the same as manual. Hope you enjoy the dal!
Awesome recipe. Your timings were perfect. Thx
Hi Sima – So happy to hear that the Dal timing worked for you…thank you for sharing back 🙂
Hi,
I tried this recipe with 1 cup dal, and 2.5 cups water and honestly have using natural release, my dal looked like mashed up lentils. There was no liquid left.
I now need to add water to a pot and add the mushy lentils.
I cooked the dal on high pressure for 5 minutes and then left it in there till the pressure released on its own.
Hi Nina – Sorry to hear that the dal came out mushy. However it seems like you modified the recipe to your taste. The recipe calls for 1 cup dal to 3 cups of water and a quick pressure release, so I am not surprised that the dal came out mushy as it was cooking for much longer while the pressure released naturally.
The recipe says NPR 5 minutes and here you say quick release. so which is it?
Andrea, do a 5 minute NPR with the suggested time in the recipe. I have suggested better times along with the video recipe.
If I cut the recipe in half does the cooking time change?
Hey Devanshi – The cooking time will remain the same even if you cut the recipe to half. The instant pot will just come to pressure sooner. Hope you enjoy it!
What amount of asafoeteda should I use? It’s not indicated in the recipe. Thanks!
Hey Susan – Add a pinch of asafoetida (less than 1/4 tsp). I will update the recipe to make this clear soon. Hope you enjoy it!
what temperature setting do you sautee on-less, normal or more? Thanks!
Hey Ian – I usually do sauté normal.
Found this last night. Made it today on my lunch break. Wow! Yum! I was so surprised how tasty tangy yummy it was and so easy, too. I’ve only cooked w/ curry leaves just a couple times for the first time this week. They seem to impart a bit of a tangy flavor…? Is that what gave that bit of tanginess? I didn’t have a fresh tomato today, so I uses 6fl oz of canned diced tomatoes I had on hand. Maybe that was some of the tang? My wife and I are stuffed tonight. We overdid it a bit, but it was so yummy. This will be one of our go-tos for sure. I want try the kheer recipe (wanted to tonight, but too full!) & the kichdis and others next. Thank you!
Hey Brian – So glad that you enjoyed Dal Tadka. It is definitely a simple, yet delicious kind of dish. This lentil is cooked everyday in many Indian homes. I believe the extra tanginess may be because of the canned tomatoes. Otherwise it is just a bit tangy with the tomatoes, with a bit of sweetness from the onions and spiciness from the spices 🙂
I would love to hear if you try the other recipes!
Thanks,
Meeta
Should you cook the dal longer? The pic shows that the dal is not properly cooked.
Hey Anita – It is a personal preference. I usually like the lentils holding their shape and not completely mixed. However if you prefer them more cooked, certainly add more time. Always great to adjust any recipes to your preference ????
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made it today and it came out perfect. I would up the heat level the next time I make this recipe again, but that’s just my preference. I’m excited to your other recipes! My biggest challenge with the IP is the cooking time.
Aleena
Hey Aleena – So glad you enjoyed the dal. My recipes are usually less spicy as I make them kid friendly for my daughter. Please do adjust to your taste ????
The Instructions mention green chili, the ingredients not. Still, a marvelous recipe.
Glad you enjoyed the Dal. Thank you for sharing your review! I have updated the miss in the ingredients 🙂