Spiced with Madras curry, this red lentil soup takes only six minutes in the Instant Pot. Serve it with yogurt, and fresh cilantro.
Red lentils sit in a gallon-sized glass jar in my cupboard. Fragile and thin, they cook in the blink of an eye, melting into a delightful puree. One of our favorite ways to use them is in classic masoor dal. You can serve it over rice, or with flatbread, but sometimes I enjoy just sipping dal on its own, flavored with yogurt and fresh cilantro.
The blessing of this red lentil dal is that it comes together in nearly an instant. And when you’re pressured after a long day at the office, or sandwiched between errands, it’s nice to toss all the ingredients together in the pressure cooker, and have a nourishing meal that’s ready in only a few minutes.
Making Red Lentil Dal in the Pressure Cooker
Dal is traditionally prepared by toasting spices, and simmering lentils slowly until they soften and break down. That slow simmering helps infuse lentils with the rich and robust flavors of spices like coriander, cumin, ginger, fenugreek, fennel, chiles and black pepper. A pressure cooker cuts that time down to just a few minutes, and a swirl of Madras curry sauce, which blends grass-fed ghee with spices, gives this almost instant version all the flavor and richness of a traditional, slowly simmered dal.
Easy Instant Pot Red Lentil Dal
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 cups red lentils
- 2 teaspoons finely ground real salt
- 6 cups chicken bone broth
- 3 tablespoons Madras curry sauce
- yogurt to serve
- chopped cilantro to serve
Instructions
- Place the onion, red lentils, chicken broth, salt and Madras curry into your pressure cooker. Pressure cook for six minutes, and then allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Puree with an immersion blender, and then serve warm with additional curry sauce.
Favorite Lentil Recipes
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Lentils are pulses, and like all pulses, they’re both inexpensive and filling. They’re also fairly nutrient-dense, rich in micronutrients like folate and thiamin, various minerals and dietary fiber.
Curried Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk blends lentils and yellow split peas with coriander, cumin and fenugreek as well as a spoonful of coconut milk.
Smoky Sprouted Lentil Soup with Andouille and Turkey is perfect for fall, both hearty and deeply satisfying with a delicate smoky flavor.
Lentil Stew with Winter Vegetables and Mustard Greens marries root vegetables like parsnips and carrots with French lentils, broth and mustard greens for a soothing, simple soup.
Red Lentil Masala with Spinach is an easy, vegetarian, soup that couples red lentils with cumin, ginger, garam masala, tomato and cilantro.
Aditi says
So this is really close to what my mom makes, except I left out the chicken broth and used water. Maybe it would be better if I used some vegetable stock instead. (I’m a vegetarian). I thought it was really good though.
Heidi says
How many cups of chicken broth in the recipe (Easy Instant Pot Red Lentil Dal)? It’s missing from the list!
Thank you!