Dinejot

East Indian

Musur Dal (Bengali Red Lentil Dal)

Musur Dal (Bengali Red Lentil Dal) is East Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre, the protein alongside, and the soup. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

30 min Easy High fiber Heart healthy Vegetarian Vegan Halal Gluten free Dairy free Pescatarian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup split red lentils (masoor dal)
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tbsp mustard oil
  • 1 tsp panch phoron (five-spice blend)
  • 2 dried red chilies
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • 2 green chilies, slit
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1 tsp salt

How to cook it

  1. Rinse the red lentils, then simmer them with the water and turmeric until soft and falling apart, about 20 minutes, skimming off any foam.
  2. Whisk the dal loose to a thin, everyday consistency, adding hot water if it looks too thick.
  3. Heat the mustard oil in a small pan until it just smokes, let it cool for a moment, then add the panch phoron and dried red chilies and temper until fragrant.
  4. Stir in the ginger and tomato and cook until the tomato softens, about 3 minutes.
  5. Pour the tempering over the simmering dal along with the slit green chilies and salt, and let it bubble together for 5 minutes.
  6. Finish with cilantro and serve hot over steamed rice, the way it's made almost every day in a Bengali kitchen.

Serve it with

A East Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Musur Dal (Bengali Red Lentil Dal), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Musur Dal (Bengali Red Lentil Dal) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.

Every tracked allergen in Musur Dal (Bengali Red Lentil Dal)
Allergen In this dish
Peanuts No
Tree nuts No
Dairy No
Gluten No
Shellfish No
Eggs No
Soy No
Fish No
Sesame No
Coconut No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.

Calorie band
Light
Protein
Medium
Protein quality
Partial
Food groups it covers
Pulses and Vegetables
How this was set
Hand audited

When to cook it

Musur Dal (Bengali Red Lentil Dal) takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.

Watch someone make it

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More to cook

Cooked from the same things

Other dishes built on red lentil.

From the same kitchens

More cooking from East India.

Does the same job on the plate

Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.

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Cook this with your whole family

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