Dal Panchratan | Lentils Curry

Dal Panchratan is a popular dish in most of the Indian restaurants. 'Panchratan' means five jewels, and here five jewels represents five different kinds of lentils. The idea is to prepare a curry using these five kinds of lentils. It is very essential that you need to have an equal proportion of these. The method of preparing remains the same as any other dal tadka recipes.



Serves: 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas)
• 1/4 cup chana dal (split chickpeas)
• 1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram)
• 1/4 cup masoor dal (split brown lentils)
• 1/4 cup urad dal (black gram lentil)
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 cup finely chopped tomato
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• 2 tsp ginger & garlic paste
• 2 green chilies chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
• 2 tsp red chili powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
• Salt
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
• chopped ginger for garnish
• 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
• 4 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

1. Wash and boil the lentils with salt and few drops of cooking oil in a pressure cooker by adding enough of water (3 to 4 cups approx).
2. Heat oil in a sauce pan and add whole cumin, fry till it sizzles and turns slightly dark in color.
3. Add chopped onion and saute till soft, followed by 2 tsp ginger garlic paste, 2 tsp red chili powder, 2 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder and 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. Fry for sometime on low heat till the raw smell disappears. Add few drops of water if spices stick to the saucepan.
4. Now add chopped tomatoes, green chilies and mint leaves. Fry till tomatoes are cooked and oil starts to separate from the masala.
5. Add the boiled lentils along with its water and stir well so that the spices are well combined with lentils.
6. Finally add lemon juice, garam masala powder, chopped coriander and salt if needed.
7. Stir well, cover and cook on low flame for 20 minutes. Keep stirring in between to avoid the lentils from sticking to the pan.
8. Serve hot by pouring some ghee (clarified butter) and chopped ginger.  

Step by step pictures

You might also like my other dal recipes on the blog:

Chana Dal Masala 

Dal Makhani

Dhaba Style Dal Fry

Dal Palak

Masoor Masala

Moong Curry