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This recipe for Moong Dal Recipe cooks so fast in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot, that it makes this hearty, protein-rich dal easy to make for weeknight dinners.
Why Make Moong Dal?
This Indian Moong Dal recipe allows you to harness the power of your pressure cooker to skip several stovetop steps, without compromising flavor.
There are many reasons why I like to use my pressure cooker to make l entils and beans.
- Fast - lentils made in less than an hour.
- Easy - pour and cook recipe .
- Protein Rich - 9 grams of protein per serving.
- Delicious - packed with delicious Indian spices.
- High in fiber - 7 grams of fiber per serving.
- Family-friendly - fun and familiar flavors your kids will love.
In the case of this moong dal, I wanted something that would be a simple pour and cook recipe.
What Is Moong Dal In English?
I’ve noticed when adapting some of my favorite Indian recipes , many people ask what the names of the recipes mean. So if that’s something you’re curious about, here you go.
In this recipe, I used WHOLE Moong dal, so it’s those little green bullet looking things like the picture below 🙂
Mung beans isolated on white background
Split Moong dal is simply a mung bean that has been skinned and split so that they are flat and quicker to cook. They are little tiny yellow lentils.
Is Moong Dal Good For Health?
Moong Dal has many health benefits. Some of them include:
- High in fiber.
- It contains folic acid.
- Source of magnesium.
- Contains protein.
How Long Should Moong Dal Be Soaked?
Unlike beans, most lentils do not require pre-soaking. This is especially true when you cook them in the pressure cooker.
Since this is an Instant Pot Moong Dal recipe, skip the soaking.
How to Make Instant Pot Moong Dal
- Place water, dal, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, salt, ground cumin, ground coriander, and cayenne pepper in your pressure cooker.
- Cook under pressure for 20 minutes, and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Mix in the tamarind concentrate or lemon juice, and sugar and stir well.
- Garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve with either rice or Naans
What About Browning The Aromatics?
Normally this or any other Indian Dal is made by sautéing aromatics. The pressure cooker makes this unnecessary, mainly because the high temperatures allow the Maillard Reaction to occur without pre-browning.
So in this case, I just poured everything in and cooked it in one go and got a wonderful, creamy Instant Pot Moong Dal for dinner.
How to make Moong Dal in a Stove Top pressure cooker?
If you have a stovetop pressure cooker and learned to cook in India, you may be looking for how many whistles for dal . This can vary depending on a few things:
- How full your pot is.
- How high the heat is on your stovetop.
- The temperature of the contents before coming to pressure.
That being said, the general rule is that once the pot comes to pressure, you’re looking at about 3 minutes per whistle. This is just a GENERAL rule, so you may need to modify as you experiment with this recipe.
Since this recipe calls for 10 minutes under high pressure, you’ll cook pressure cooker Moong dal for about 3 whistles.
Tips and Tricks for Making Creamy Instant Pot Moong Dal
- You do not need to soak the moong dal ahead of time.
- Do not add the tamarind or lemon until after the moong dal is cooked. Tamarind retards the cooking of lentils, and your dal will not soften as needed.
- If you want really creamy dal–which trust me, you do–then use the back of your spoon to smoosh some of the cooked dal.
- If you love the taste of ghee ( homemade ghee is wonderful!), heat some ghee and to the hot ghee, add some cumin seeds. When they splutter, pour this flavored ghee and cumin seeds on top of the dal right before serving. SO GOOD.
What Should I Eat Moong Dal With?
To make this a complete protein, you should consider eating this Instant Pot Moong Dal recipe with the following:
- Basmati pilau
- Chappatis
- Naan
- Mango Chutney
- As a side dish, you could add baingan bharta if you like eggplant, or Bhindi Masala if you are an okra fan.
- Finish off your meal with a little dessert, like carrot halva.
Want More Indian Instant Pot Recipes?
- Instant Pot Butter Chicken
- Chicken Vindaloo
- Chicken Korma
- Instant Pot Chana Masala
- Dal Makhani
If you’re looking for a fast, easy, delicious, and nutritious weeknight meal idea, try this Instant Pot Moong Dal Recipe . You’ll love how quickly it comes together.
Pressure Cooker Indian Moong Dal
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
For Dal
- ▢ 4 cups ( 1 l ) Water
- ▢ 1 cup whole moong dal , (the green kind)
- ▢ 1 cup ( 1 ) Onion , diced
- ▢ 1 cup Tomatoes , diced
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 1 tablespoon ) Minced Ginger
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 1 tablespoon ) Garlic
- ▢ 1 teaspoon ( 1 teaspoon ) Turmeric
- ▢ 1/2-1 teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) Cayenne Pepper , adjust to taste
- ▢ 1 teaspoon ( 1 teaspoon ) Garam Masala
- ▢ 1 teaspoon ( 1 teaspoon ) Kosher Salt
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) Ground Cumin
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) Ground Coriander
For Finishing
- ▢ 1 teaspoon ( 1 teaspoon ) Tamarind Concentrate
- ▢ 2 ( 2 ) lemons , juiced
- ▢ 1 teaspoon ( 1 teaspoon ) Sugar , Or Other Sweetener Equivalent
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 4 g ) Chopped Cilantro or Parsley
Instructions
Place water, dal, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, salt, ground cumin, ground coriander, and cayenne pepper in your pressure cooker.
Secure the lid on the pot. Set the Instant Pot at High pressure for 20 minutes. When cook time is complete, let pot release pressure naturally for 10 minutes, and then release all remaining pressure.
Mix in the tamarind concentrate or lemon juice, and sugar and stir well.
Garnish with cilantro or parsely and serve with either rice or Naans
This recipe can easily be doubled. Moong dal freezes very well, so it’s great for meal prep and freezer meals.
You do not need to soak the moong dal ahead of time.
Do not add the tamarind or lemon until after the moong dal is cooked. Tamarind retards the cooking of lentils, and your dal will not soften as needed.
If you want really creamy dal–which trust me, you do–then use the back of your spoon to smoosh some of the cooked dal.
If you love the taste of ghee ( homemade ghee is wonderful!), heat some ghee and to the hot ghee, add some cumin seeds. When they splutter, pour this flavored ghee and cumin seeds on top of the dal right before serving. SO GOOD.
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Don’t forget to check out my otherBest-selling Instant Pot Cookbooks!
Indian Instant Pot , Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy , Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot .
