Though many people refer to a variety of beans as Lentils, lentils are actually small, round and flat legumes with a dark brown husk. Lentil Soup (or Masoor Daal) is hearty, homey and satisfying. Packed with protein and fiber, this Lentil Soup recipe makes a healthy and filling lunch. Pair it with rice or chapati and you have a complete dinner.
Ingredients:
Whole Lentil – 1 cup
Water – 3 cups
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Cumin Seeds – 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp
Onion – 1 small, finely chopped
Garlic – 4 cloves, finely chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp, finely grated
Green Chilies – to taste, finely chopped
Tomato – 1 medium, chopped
Coriander Powder – 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1/4 tsp
Red Chili Powder – 1/4 tsp or to taste
Salt – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Lemon Juice – to taste
Cilantro/Coriander Leaves – 5 sprigs, chopped for garnishing
Method:
1. Wash Lentil in running water until water runs clear. Soak for approx 1 hour. Drain water.
2. Add Lentil and 3 cups Water in a pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles.
3. Heat Oil in a pan.
4. Add Mustard Seeds and Cumin Seeds and allow them to splutter.
5. Add Turmeric Powder, Asafoetida, Onion, Garlic, Ginger and Green Chilies – mix well and cook until onions turn translucent and light brown.
6. Add Tomato – mix and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Add Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder and Red Chili Powder – cook for 1 minute.
8. Add in cooked Lentil, Salt and a little extra water if the mixture is too thick.
9. Allow to boil for 2 to 3 minutes.
10. Add Lemon Juice to taste and garnish with Cilantro.
11. Serves 4-5
Tip:
1. Soaking the Lentil for about an hour before pressure cooking reduces cooking time.
2. For a creamy variation, add a dollop of yogurt (at the end) to your lentil soup.
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I love your site and I am looking forward to new recipes
Thanks Daryl! Glad you and your family are finding SMTC useful 🙂
I love your site and my family loves the cooking that comes from your site.
Wow!! This is delicious. I just made it. Highly recommend 🙂
I don’t have a pressure cooker so I made this on the stovetop using split red lentils and it worked really well. It came out thicker than the soup in your pic, but very tasty. Next time I’ll try it with whole lentils. Thanks for another amazing recipe 🙂
Awesome recipe ladies and Iam not a big fan of garlic is there a substitute for garlic how will it be without garlic
Hi Shobana,
For people who like garlic, it will taste awesome in this recipe. If you don’t care for the flavor of garlic, you will not miss anything if you were to leave it out.
My pressure cooker is a bit older, and it has a weight that spins ontop when the pressure has built up inside…about how many minutes does this daal cook for one the weight statrs spinning?
I love all of your recipes by the way I’m hispanic but I love to make indian food and I cook your recipes frequently!
Hi Brian,
I also have a pressure cooker that has a continuous whistle. For fast cooking daals like masoor or mung, I switch off the stove as soon as the whistling sound starts ( a good strong sound), else, i allow it to go on for 1 minute per traditional whistle. Every pressure cooker is different so you will have to experiment with yours to get it right.
hello hetal and anuja
this soup is awesome. i live in sydney and i want to know what is the name of whole lentil in hindi. by seeing the colour i think it is horse gram?I really want to make and plz do reply me as soon as possible.
Hi Srilekha,
Whole lentil is called masoor. Horse gram is different.
hello Hetal,
I made this with red lentils and stir- fry vegetables.
we liked it.
Thanks,
srilekha.
Hi,
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Made this the other day and it came out AMAZING! Thank you.
Gorgeous. As a vegetarian, I find your recipes really helpful 🙂
Dear Hetal & Anuja,
can I use the split variety of masoor dal since that’s what I have on hand? Of course the cooking time will then be less, right?
Hi Blahnik,
Yes, you can and it will cook a lot faster 🙂
Thanks =D
Hey guys, this is a great soup. I pump up the spices a bit and the heat and add a bit of yogurt to it. It’s incredible. It’s my favorite type of lentil but I don’t recipes for it very often. Thanks so much!!
Judy