Dal bhat is a traditional Nepali or Indian food consisting of lentil soup (dal) served with rice (bhat), which Tibetans began to cook after we came into exile.
Traditionally Tibetans in Tibet don’t cook dal, but it is a very common dish of Tibetans who live outside our country, especially those who live in India and Nepal.
It is a healthy meal that is fast and easy to cook and loved by our vegetarian friends. I learned how to cook dal when I was living in India and very often cook it at home.
There are all kinds of lentils we can use but I like to use red lentils, called masoor dal, because they cook fast. There are some black and green lentils that taste great, but that take much longer to cook.
The lentil soup is often called masala dal or dal masala — masala is a term used in Indian and Nepali cooking to describe a mixture of spices.
Dal Bhat Recipe
For 2 people
Preparation time: ~ 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils (masoor dal) (recommended, as other types of dal can take much longer to cook)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small red onion, chopped small
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon turmeric*
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)*
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder*
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- ½ tablespoon butter or ghee (optional, but it gives a nice flavor)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro and/or green onion, chopped, for garnish
- Water, to make soup
- basmati rice (or any kind you wish)
- Indian chutney or pickle (achar) of your choice. We love Patak’s lime pickle. We buy this at Vik’s in Berkeley, California. You can also find Patak’s at pretty much any Indian grocery, and some Safeway, Whole Foods and other large grocery stores in the US.
- Optional: add pepper of your choice, or red pepper flakes. We don’t add any pepper, as we don’t favor super hot food, and the dish is very flavorful without heat, especially if served with an Indian pickle relish.
* If you prefer, you can use Shan Dal Curry Mix, or garam masala instead of the turmeric, cumin and coriander. We have used the Shan’s and it tastes great. Any type of garam masala would also do just fine, and you can make your own if you prefer or don’t have access to it.
Preparation
- Wash the lentils and rinse a couple of times. Be careful to remove any stones if you don’t want to break your teeth ;-) If you have time, soak the lentils in water as long as you can, up to overnight, before you cook. They get very soft and can cook faster. Normally, I don’t have much time, so I wash the lentils and cook it right way.
- Begin preparing the rice any way you like so it will be ready when you’re done cooking the dal. We use a rice cooker.
- Chop your onion, and mince the garlic and ginger. You can combine if you wish and set aside.
- Chop the tomato and set aside.
- Wash your cilantro and or green onion. Chop for garnish and set aside.
- Heat oil on high for a minute or two.
- Add ginger, garlic and onion, and stir fry on high until the onion is a little brown on the edges, 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in cumin seeds, salt , turmeric, mustard seed and coriander powder. Turn the heat down to medium (6 out of 10 on our stove), and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Note: The stove’s temperature will remain at medium (6/10) for the rest of the cooking process, and you will stir occasionally.
- Add tomatoes and butter. Stir, cover with lid and cook for 4 minutes.
- After 4 minutes, stir in the lentils, cover and cook for 5 minutes.
- After cooking for 5 minutes, add one cup of water, cover with lid and cook for 5 more minutes.
- When the 5 minutes are up, stir in 2 more cups of water, as the water will begin to decrease as you cook.
- Continue cooking on medium for 10 minutes.
- Now your dal is ready :-) Turn off the stove and sprinkle the chopped cilantro and/or green onion on top.
Serve:
- Serve with rice. Many Tibetans like to serve the dal in a small soup bowl, beside a plate of rice. Some people like to ladle the dal over the rice and mix it up to eat. Indians and Nepalis often eat dal baht with their hands, as do some Tibetans, but many of us also use a spoon.
- Add some Indian chutney or pickle (achar) or hot sauce. We can’t more highly recommend the Patak’s Lime Pickle or relish, which is just heavenly and is perfectly complementary with this dal bhat. You can get it medium or hot. Medium is more spicy in a flavorful way than a hot way :-) The hot has some bite!
Enjoy! You are going to love this :-)
Whenever I cook this recipe for my family and friends, they seem to love it. Please try it out and let us know what you think in the comments below.
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By Lobsang Wangdu
I have been craving a good recipe for years …. Only looking in my cookbooks to be disappointed by the outcome. Thanks to the google, I found your site and this recipe. It is so perfect, I ate it 3 days in a row!!! Just like when I was in Nepal. I was even able to get my husband to try … and like it.l. Can’t wait to try some of your other dishes.
Wonderful, Wendy! We are so happy you like it and hope you enjoy the other recipes. (Hint: the momos are great :-)
This recipe is delicious – thank you for sharing!
Thank you Andrea! We are so happy you like it :-)
Great tasting and easy recipe!! It reminds my husband and I of our incredible time in Nepal. My whole family enjoys it… Thank you so much!
You are so welcome! We love this recipe too :-)
this is great! never thought of using red onions with curry spices but it comes out great. first attempt wasn’t so successful as the (yellow) lentils we not soaked long enough and needed lots more cooking. so lesson for next time. this is great recipe.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Wojtek! Yes, different kinds of lentils need different cooking times, especially the black and dark green lentils take a long time to cook. All the best to you!
A fantastic recipe! I’ve been looking for a good Dal recipe ever since I visited Nepal, and this is the first time I’ve been satisfied with the result. I made the minor addition of putting some vegetable stock into the lentil boil water, which is something to consider if you have it on hand.
Hi Dominic and thank you so much for writing in :-) Putting the veg stock in the water for boiling the lentils sounds like a great idea. We will try this!
I made this for first time tonight. Had to substitute whole cumin and mustard seeds for powdered, and paired it with leftover brown rice. It was tasty. and I will make it again, will try with the lime pickle if I can find it. I had soaked the lentils, and found out that i didn’t need to add nearly as much water as indicated in recipe. Next time I make this I may not bother soaking the masoor dal first.
Hi Ella. Sounds great to sub whole cumin and mustard and serving with brown rice. And thanks for the info on soaking the lentils, we’re sure others will find this helpful :-) Definitely try with the lime pickle — that makes a perfect flavor! Thanks for writing :-)
It would be very nice if this website had regular text you could cut and paste so I print the ingredients list without printing all those pictures, etc. Looking forward to trying it.
Hi Shakbar,and thanks for letting us know this. We removed the cut and paste ability recently because some people were cutting and pasting our entire articles and stealing the content for their web sites without offering any credits to us :-( This is a good reminder that we should look for a print function that is text only so that you don’t need to print all the pics. Thanks!
The Dal Baht is almost ready. I can’t wait to try it. Just a question – in the photo there is a bottle of sesame oil but I don’t see it listed as an ingredient. Did I miss something? Thanks!!
No, sorry, not sure why the picture has sesame oil. We just used regular vegetable oil, usually canola or safflower. Enjoy!
I have just made and eaten Dal Baht and it was absolutely fantastic. I had to tell you straight away. Thanks for such a good recipe.
Thanks so much, Susanne :-) We’re so happy you enjoyed it!
Delicious recipe- this was the best dal I’ve had! Perfect comfort food for a rainy day. I doubled it so I would have some leftover to heat up for an easy dinner during the week, and I will try that with the patak lime pickle.
Thanks!
You’re so welcome, Michael :-) Glad you liked it. We may be inspired to make some today too!