You might also like these recipes for spicy urad dal, vegan dal makhani and vegan dal bukhara. There are so many north Indian legume dishes that are deeply loved around the world, among them Chana Masala and Dal Tadka. Another fabulous lentil recipe that oozes comfort, also from north India, is Maa ki Dal. And it starts with the name. Maa ki Dal literally translates to “Mom’s Dal” – now didn’t you feel your belly grow all warm and mushy at the sound of that? Rich and soothing, this is exactly the sort of food to put a spring in your step on the rainiest, dreariest, most depressing days. And it works just as well for the good days too. 🙂 There are as many variations of Maa ki Dal as there are mothers in north India who cook it, which is probably why – if you were to look up this dal on the internet – there is a great deal of confusion over what exactly goes into it. Some recipes use cream, others use butter, and most use ghee. While every version out there uses urad dal (also called udad dal or black gram dal) as the lentil base, there are differences over what kind of urad dal to use. Some use sabut urad, the unpeeled, whole lentil that looks like a tiny black globe. Others use the split lentil, but with the black skin on. Yet others use the peeled, ivory-white version. Some add a second lentil to it, usually chana dal, and yet others confuse it with its more famous cousin that’s often found on Indian restaurant menus, the luscious Vegan Dal Makhani, which has rajma or kidney beans added to it. But just like mom, a Maa ki Dal needs no frills to make it special. The recipe I am about to share with you is super simple: you need some Indian ingredients, but if you cook Indian food on a fairly regular basis you likely already have these in your pantry. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
This recipe is vegan which means of course that there’s no ghee here– an ingredient most Indian cooks will try to tell you is what makes this dal special, but pay no heed to them. There are so many flavors in play here, you will never know the difference.
More tasty dal recipes
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