This easy recipe for Urad Daal has a soothing, homey feel to it that is sure to satisfy the palate and the soul. Our recipe uses a hands free slow cooker but this simple, delicious Urad Daal can also be made easily on the stove-top in a sauce pan or in a pressure cooker. Enjoy this Gujarati roadside dhabba dish as a soup or with rice/chapati.
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 4 Hours
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients:
Urad Daal – 1 cup
Water – 6 cups
Salt – to taste
Lemon Juice – 1 tbsp or to taste
Seasoning:
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Ghee – 1/2 Tbsp
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Dry Red Chilies – 2 or to taste
Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp
Curry Leaves – few leaves
Green Chillies – slit, to taste
Ginger – 1/2 tbsp, minced
Garlic – 1/2 tbsp, minced
Cilantro – for garnish
Method:
1. Wash the Urad Daal under the tap till the water runs clear.
2. In the Slow Cooker combine the Daal and the Water.
3. Give the daal a mix, cover and cook on high for 4 hours .
4. After the 4 hours, open, mix and add Salt and Lemon/Lime Juice and mix.
5. To work on the seasoning, heat Oil & Ghee in a skillet.
6. Add in the Cumin Seeds and allow them to sizzle.
7. Add in the Dry Red Chillies, Asafoetida, Curry Leaves, Green Chillies, Ginger & Garlic. Cook for a minute.
8. Add the seasoning to the Daal, add in fresh chopped Cilantro and it’s ready to serve.
9. Enjoy with Chapatis, Rice or by itself, as a soup.
Tips:
Slow Cooker Method:
1. Always add warm/hot Water to the Daal while adjusting the consistency.
Pressure Cooker Method:
1. Cook Daal with the Water and allow the Pressure Cooker to whistle 1 time.
2. Turn the flame off and allow the pressure to go down by itself.
3. Open the Cooker follow the same steps mentioned above.
Stove-Top Method:
1. Cook Water and Daal in a Saucepan, covered, till the Daal is cooked.
2. Follow the same steps as the Slow-Cooker Method.
Namaste Ladies,
You mentioned “adding water if you need to” but you DIDN’T mention; Never, NEver, NEVer, NEVEr, NEVER EVER add cold, cool or even warm water into your slow cooker. Boil some water in a pan or kettle and add the amount want from there otherwise you run the risk of cracking or totally breaking the ceramic portion of your cooker. Been there, done that. What a mess and there is the chance of electrical shock!!
Thought I should pass that on.
LOVE your site and share it whenever and wherever I can.
Thanks, Rich
Hi Richard,
You are SOOOO right, we will make admends to the recipe right away.
Thank you so much for having our back.
Hope you are doing well and staying safe.
Hi,
You are using split urad dal right? Can we use whole urad dal too?
Thanks
Namagiri
Dear Hetal and Anuja
I tried this Dhal and it was superb. Thanks again for such a wonderful recipe. You rock.
Shazia
Hi Gals…
I love all your recipes ..do you have any idea… how can we store heavy wipping cream???… which we normally add to make the gravy thick and flavourful..because sometimes when we want the cream while cooking…its not at home…and sometimes we have to throw it..because we don’t have any plan to make some special dish…or is there any alternative of wipping cream which can give same effect??
thanks
Freeze it.
I realized after looking at my bag is that I have split black matpe with the husk still on… I also have a bag without the husk (which I think is the type you used in the recipe.) Will the husk effect the flavor?
Is the split black matpe a suitable lentil for this recipe? I truly enjoy your recipes and love that you provide video instruction. It is so helpful!
I tried this today. After preparing I was a bit skeptical as the color of dhal was totally unfamiliar to me! My daughter suggested we eat it with pepper and it was grrrr8! Extra lemon also brought in more flavour!
Thanks for the wonderful variation!
We had this as soup and had sweet potato curry. It was a whole meal!
Hi R,
We, too, were soooo tempted to add Turmeric Powder to the daal – but are so glad we did not cave in. The green of the Dhaniya just jumps out so beautifully 🙂
We have it as soup also – so comforting and soothing….extra lemon and extra Cilantro – a must 🙂
I am wondering if i can make other daals in a slow cooker like this?
hetel is not suit for this program,she is talking over and seems like very extra slang.
first learn to spell her name right. second, if you can’t appreciate her teaching, then don’t watch this
I think they both are good in their own way and make a gr8 team! They provide free website for us, share their knowledge and help us learn. Can’t believe you are making such comments!
Hi Hetal 7 Anuja
Thanks for this slow cooker version of Daal. It’s one of our family favourite daal and we like to eat it with bajra roti. Please can you add some more slow cooker recipes? Some one pot meal would be nice.
Hi Pinky,
We do plan to do more slow cooker recipes – thanks for your feedback 🙂
Hetal/Anuja
This is superb. Can you please, share more slow cooker Indian vegetarian recipes? Can we cook other dals like this?
hi beautiful hetal and anuja really you gals are goddessess…. i love ur new kitchen really dashing and you both look are becoming more and more young as ur kids are growing up.
abt this slow cooked urad dal today i made it and its a super duper blockbuster in my family everyone just loved and i personally will make it for myself every second day, your work is highly appreciated from the bottom of my heart. and god bless you.
pl keep posting such wonderful, yummy and quick fix receipes.
take care again you both look younger day by day and smtc rocks!!!!
hi ladies,
nice recipe for a change…..will give it a try.
Hi Rizwana,
It is a very soothing daal – hope you enjoy it 🙂
I like your old kitchen better.
🙂
have u changed ur kitchen
Anybody who seeing this comment PLEASE reply me. Hi Sisters,I’m new in cooking. I have asked you a question in your poori recipe’s comments in last, but I didn’t receive reply. So, I’m asking here also. If I make poori it will not come puff up. Please tel me How can I get puff.
Hi Fathima,
There could be a couple of issues:
– the oil temperature is incorrect – too hot or not hot enough. If the puris are sitting at the bottom of the pan for a long time before floating up – the oil is not hot enough and if they are changing color very fast – the oil is too hot.
– the rolling is not even – if the rolling is uneven or too thick, the puris will not puff up.
– the dough is too stiff – this can be an issue as well. If the dough is too hard, the puri will be very dense and hence will not puff-up.
Try and see if this points help.
Thank you so much Anuja sister, I’m very happy to see your reply and I will try again following your points. Once again THANKS BOTH OF YOU.
Please show us your take on Dal Bati … Bati in oven
-Thanks!
Hi there,
We do that that on our list 🙂
Is Undhio on the list too?? If yes, how far??pleaseeeee let us know.
I have asked them many times for Undhio recipe and got no response 🙁
…and we have heard you every time 😉
We appreciate your support and your patience 🙂
This year is going to be the “Year of the Undhio”!
Thanks, love you:-)
Thanks alot for all the wonderful recipes.
Can you tell me how to cook indian food in automatic slow cooker?It does not have any temperature settings,all you can adjust is the time.
I tried gajjar ka halwa in it but it became like kheer:)Can you tell me where I went wrong?
Hi Angel,
Thanks for sharing this information with me and responsing to my query.If you have any other ideas you want to share or if anybody else want to share I would love to listen.
Interesting. Never had daal made out of Urad. Will definitely try it.
Finally a Slow Cooker recipe!! yay!
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Very simple recipe and looks yummy too. And the different background is a nice change.
I have been thinking of starting to use a slow-cooker since a long time now, but have not found a list of good Indian receipes for slow cooker. I imagine it would make things a lot more easier especially for working moms like me. But then I’ve also heard some foods like kidney beans release some kind of toxins when slow-cooked, so was not entirely sure about using this cooking method.
What are your views on certain foods being unsafe when slow-cooked? Can dry vegetables (like aaloo gobhi) be cooked in a slow cooker? It will be really helpful if you could add more slow-cooker Indian recipes to SMTC. Thanks!
Shivani,
I have mentioned in the other thread of slow cooking. Google for Anupy Singla’s recipes. i have tried the ones online and trust me there are awesome. There is a video on a chicken recipe and some few lentil recipes too. If you like em her book is another boon. It will give you ideas of hw to diversify. Check it out. you’ll be surprised hw easy it is !
Hi Hetal n Anuja
Very nice dish.did u change ur kitchen.whose kitchen is this.anuja or hetal
Hi
good job!
How come your kitchen got changed?
Is that u changed the house or modified the kitchen?
whose house it is/ Hetal or Anuja?
I did not know that adding more water reduced sliminess in urad dhal. Thanks.
Question 1: Do we use the same amount of water when pressure cooker is used? Will it over flow too much?
Question 2: When I wash tuvar dhal or channa dhal, the water is always white no matter how many times I wash! Once I washed it like 8-10 times and still the washed water looked white! Any idea why that is? Is it pesticide?
Does anyone get to see relatively clean water after washing the dhal couple of times?
Thanks
Hi Anuja and hetal..
I have tried ur this recipe.. bt we dnt liked it..
bt ur other recipes are nice..
plz show something as an appetizer or indian bread dishes or south indian..
Hi, Hetal & Anuja
wonderful receipe,simple and easy. I love all your receipe.I found your web on google, about a month ago and since then i have cooked almost something different food everyday. Family happy and i am happy.Thank you so much for all your help to all girls, mom who can not cook much differnt kind of food. Thanks much.
hi hetal and anuja
wonderfull recipe,very simple ingredients.
i try it as soup.
please show some south indian breakfasts like aapam,idiyappam,puttu etc.,
pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Thanks a lot for the wonderful and easy recipe Anuja and Hetal. In fact, I own a slow cooker which is exactly the same as yours. Surely gonna try this for lunch tomorrow. Keep up the good work 🙂 Love your website.
I have tried your various receipe.All comes out to be very yummy.Could you ladies tell me if there is any other flour or combinations of flour can be used to make indian appetizers or bread or cakes as my daughter is suffering from celiac diseases.I would really appreciate that
I have see you ask this more than once. I guess Hetal and Anuja have missed it. Meanwhile I thought I should give you my two cents.
There are variety of compbinations of flours you can try. Base should be rice and/or jowar flour and then you can add urad daal flour, quinoa flour (this one has not too goof of a taste but really good protein) potato flour or potato starch (use this one sparingly because a little goes a loooooong way I would say 1 cup rice flour to 1 tsp potato starch), Raagi flour (you find this in any international food store) and bengal gram flour etc. Rice flour gives a nice white color to the breads while all of the above mentioned flours add good protein and starch/stickiness to make the dough pliable. So take your base of rice flour, then add others as binding flours to it little at a time till it gives you the right consistancy for breads/rotis. Also you can always mix and match. I always put 3-4 flour in my breads when someone in my family needed to stay away from gluten. Let me know if you have more questions. Good Luck, I know it can be really hard to leave out wheat in a diet. Please do check with your pediatrician before using any of these tips to make sure it’s OK for your child
hi Angle,
thanks for sharing your views with me and responding to my query. If you or anybody else have any other ideas I will love to litsen
nice and interesting recepi….. as you otld us i have heard a recepi with urad dhal .. i have only hear with moong daal.. so will defenetly try it out and let you know.. thanks for the wonderful recepi and also i request you to make a video and recepi for khaman dhokla… thanks again:)