Instant Pot Toor Dal – Instant Pot Indian Recipes

Instant Pot Toor Dal – How to cook Toor Dal in an Instant Pot? – Instant Pot Dal Recipe – Easy Instant Pot Indian Recipes – Split Pigeon Peas Instant Pot – How to cook Split Pigeon Peas in an Instant Pot – Instant Pot Thuvaram Paruppu – Instant Pot Lentils   #instantpotrecipes   #instantpotindianrecipes 

What is an Instant Pot ? – Its a programmable counter-top electric pressure cooker…. You must have heard or read about this magic machine in the past few months… people rave about. I was so skeptical in using one as i am pretty old school and totally love my traditional pressure cooker.  There are many models and capacity to choose from, i got 3 quart Instant Pot Duo Mini as a gift this christmas and will be trying my hand on taming it to make Indian recipes.  Its basically an electric pressure cooker where you don’t have to babysit, count whistle or time everything is done with a touch of a button.

Split Pigeon Peas – is a legume known by numerous names… in general referred as lentils, துவரம் பருப்பு in tamil , arhar dla or Toor dal in Hindi… also commonly referred as Dal ! Today i will sharing how to cook split pigeon peas / toor dal using an Instant Pot. This is just basic dal recipe… we will see other variations like the one with tadka or sambar in separate posts.

Do we have to Soak Dal ? – Yes, yes yes if you ask me. There are ways to cook it without soaking, many say soaking not required but in our home we follow soaking method for all dry beans and legumes. Just for these reasons… soaking helps to hydrate the seed to cook it faster, also good on your tummy, aids digestion and reduces flatulence. You may rinse well to remove any dirt and then soak and cook in the same water to preserve the nutrients. You may proceed without soaking and it will still work.

Try our         MASALA DAL TADKA                      DAL MAKHANI                     SLOW COOKER DAL

Try our                 GUJARATI DAL                    DAL TADKA                          METHI DAL  

Soak i decided to soak my dal for 15 minutes… rinsed the dal in water and added 3 cups water for 1 cup dry split pigeon peas along with a pinch of turmeric powder.

Why this 1:3 ratio?? Actually you don’t need this much water… it may cook in 1 cup dal : 2 cups water ratio works too. Iam doing it for purpose and will let you know…

Insert the pan in the pot and put the steam release handle to sealing position.

Now your pot will show OFF on screen.

Press the pressure cooker mode.

Now it will show 10 minutes on screen at normal time with high pressure.  You may also increase or decrease pressure cooking time by pressing +  or  –  I am going with 15 minutes as my dal has been soaked for 15 minutes.

Now the pressure will build up for few minutes and once its ready…. it will turn to ON mode on screen. So, countdown begins from now it will cook for 15 minutes.

When done,it will show this on screen. Now, let the pressure release naturally… probably 10 to 15 minutes.

Once the valve depressurize it will loosen a bit.  Carefully twist the lid and open. The dal will look like this…. It will still have fully cooked dal at the bottom with the little water on top.

But as you scoop… you can see it is cooked to a mushy state.

Whisk lightly to blend.

Now that dal water ratio i mentioned will yield little dal water on top… once you whisk.

I drain them using a filter…. and use that dal water for making rasam. The thick cooked dal will be collected in the mesh and you use them for sambar or dal tadka preparations. This is optional, but comes in very handy… this dal water is like a thickener….you can use them for rasam, puli kuzhambu or kara kuzhambu.

Now you basic cooked toor dal or thuvaram paruppu is all ready for use!

Notes

• Soaking is optional for this method. If you wish not to soak then, increase the pressure cooking time to 20 or 30 minutes.
• Adding salt is optional.
• The water ratio can be adjusted according to the consistency desired. Minimum water required to cook 1 cup dal is about 1 .5 cups but cooking longer may burn the bottom so stick to 1:2 ratio