Lucknowi Dal | Creamy Lentils Lucknow Style

Lucknowi Dal or Creamy Lentils Lucknow style are a delicious addition to any full Indian Thali | Meal. This is one of the tastiest ways of making Toor Dal | Arhar Dal| Split Pigeon Pea. Pigeon Pea when cooked by itself gives a really creamy dal! In Lucknowi Dal, we just make it creamier by adding some milk to the final product. The result - a deliciously tasty, wonderfully satisfying dal that goes beautifully with steamed rice!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup toor dal (Split Pigeon Pea)
1/2 cup milk
1 green chili, slit
1 sookhi lal mirch (dried red chili), broken
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp zeera (cumin seeds)
1/4 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
Cilantro, chopped fine, to garnish
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)

Method:

1. Wash the dal and place in a pressure cooker with the haldi and 11/4 cups of water.
2. Cook to 3 whistles. Turn off the heat. Allow the pressure to drop on its own.Then remove the lid of the cooker. The dal should be mushy. Add salt to taste and set aside.
3. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and the ghee. 
4. Add in the following order: the hing, cumin seeds, dried red chili, garlic, green chilies.
5. Once the garlic begins to brown, turn off the heat. 
6. Carefully pour in the cooked dal. Turn off the heat and cover the pan immediately.
7. After a couple of minutes, remove lid, stir, and then pour in the milk.
8. Garnish with the cilantro.

Enjoy this dal hot with rice and a vegetable curry of choice.

Good to Know

• The dal in the recipe needs to be really mushy, so it is best prepared in a pressure cooker. 
• If you do not own a cooker, you can cook the dal in a large saucepan. Ad at least two and a half times the amount of water recommended above.
• Do NOT soak the dal before cooking. It was not cook properly.

Vegan Substitute: You can replace the ghee with a little more of the oil. Skip adding the milk altogether.

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