I had a craving for yellow dal and stumbled upon this recipe: https://www.eitanbernath.com/2020/03/22/dal-tadka/
Our modifications: first, we made 1.5x of the recipe. Second, we didn’t have yellow lentils, so we used a combination of split yellow peas (1 cup) supplemented by toor dal (1/4 cup) and masoor dal (1/4 cup), which we soaked together for an hour (see Note below). Third, based on prior experience preparing Indian food, we sauteed the onion, garlic, and ginger (which we microplaned) first, and then once fragrant, we added the tomato. We also sauteed the spices until fragrant before adding any liquid or lentils. Fourth, we added coconut milk as the recipe suggested, and it worked well. Finally, for the tadka we heated 1 Tbsp ghee (the recipe didn’t call for any oil, which made no sense to me) and then added cumin seeds and dried chiles, heating until fragrant. We appreciated the sizzle of the tadka as we poured it over the dal.
We served this dish with basmati rice with cumin seeds and peas. The dal was pretty good, but not quite at the restaurant level the blogger claimed. (Aug. 2025)
Cooking Adventures 