You might also like other Konkani recipes like Malabar spinach curry, vegan Goan feijoada and watermelon rind dosa. Along India’s Konkan region, which runs halfway down the country’s southwestern coast, a daily meal would likely include rice and fish curry or dal. If it’s dal, it would be dalitoy. Dalitoy is a rushed cook’s best friend and it is one of my favorite dals, probably because I grew up eating it with some regularity in my family whose members belong to Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka - the three states that are also home to the Konkan coast. It is a special dal, not just for the personal nostalgic value it has for me, but for its simplicity and for the flavor it packs despite its short ingredient list. This is not a fussy dish to prepare. You don’t need to douse dalitoy with cream or butter, like a dal makhani. You don’t need to blend up multiple types of lentils and veggies, as you would for a vegetable dhansak. You don’t even need to chop up onions or tomatoes like you would if you were making a tomato dal. In fact, you don’t need to chop a single thing to make dalitoy. All you have to do to cook this one-pot dal is a simple tempering or tarka of mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafetida and dried red chilli peppers (I use red pepper flakes). It takes just five minutes once you have the lentils cooked and ready to go!
How to make dalitoy
More delicious dal recipes
Recipe card
Recipe first published April 14, 2011. Updated and republished on Sept. 25, 2024. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
This Konkani dalitoy is part of an occasional series on Indian dals, where I introduce you to a special dal from a special region, community or ethnicity in the Indian subcontinent, like Parsi dhansak, Rajasthani panchmel dal, Tamil sambar and Bengali cholar dal. You can browse all my Indian dal recipes here.
