Chana Dal Recipe (Bengal Gram Dal)
Updated: February 16, 2024, By Swasthi
Chana Dal served with rice is a healthy, hearty and satisfying meal that you will love any time. It is naturally vegan and gluten-free!! This recipe makes a delicious, spicy and protein-packed Chana Dal dish that will soon be your family favorite. Indians eat lentils almost daily in some or the other form. This Chana Dal recipe is yet another way of enjoying lentils with minimum effort.
Make it on the stovetop using a traditional pressure cooker or a heavy bottom sauce pan or in the instant pot. I have shared the instructions for all the methods.
About Chana Dal
Chana Dal also known as Bengal Gram is the skinned & split version of whole brown chickpeas. Also known as Kala chana, these brown/black chickpeas are the desi variety & are smaller in size than the white chickpeas, kabuli chana.
In Indian cuisine, we use the whole brown chickpeas as well the split & skinned version of the same which is the Chana Dal. I have also shared the recipe of the Kala chana curry here.
Chana Dal is one of those lentils that are high in protein, zinc, folate, fiber and calcium. So including them in our diet may help us. In India, lentils are cooked in numerous ways and Chana Dal is no exception. Almost every state or region in India has a popular dish made with chana dal.
The South Indian Masala vadas, Gujarati chana dal Dhokla, North Indian dhaba style chana dal tadka, Maharastrian Puran poli, Sindhi dal pakwan are all immensely popular dishes made with Bengal gram.
Apart from these a lot of home cooks use Chana Dal to make sundal, halwa, curry, stew, chutneys and many more. The fact that these are not only nutritious but also taste super delicious, has made them more popular.
My Recipe
In this post I share a simple and yet delicious side dish recipe that uses chana dal as the main ingredient. The lentils are cooked until tender and later simmered in a spicy onion tomato base. This chana dal recipe needs only pantry staples and will have you coming back to it time and again because it’s delicious, simple and easy to make.
If you love the dhaba flavors, then you can finish this dish by smoking it and make an additional tadka by following my Dal tadka recipe here.
This Chana dal goes well with plain fluffy rice, roti, chapati, naan or even with flavoured rice dishes like Jeera rice, ghee rice or mint rice. Some papads, vegetable salad or kachumber with a bowl of raita on the side will be great.
You can also serve this with pakwan, top the prepared chana dal with tamarind chutney, green chutney, some onions and coriander leaves. You have a fantastic meal ready!
If you want to make this in an instant pot, follow my instructions in the recipe card below.
Photo Guide
How To Make Chana Dal Recipe (Stepwise Pics)
Cook Lentils
1. Wash half cup chana dal well a few times. Soak it for 1 to 4 hours depending on your convenience.
2. Drain the water and add the chana dal to the pressure cooker. Then pour 1¼ cup water.
3. Pressure cook for 3 to 5 whistles depending on the size and brand of the cooker. You can also keep the dal in a bowl and pour water. Cover it and keep inside the cooker. Cook for 5 whistles. If you do not have a cooker, then just boil in a pot pouring more water as needed.
4. Chana dal must be fully cooked but not turn mushy. It must be grainy.
Temper
5. Add 2 tablespoons ghee or oil to a kadai. When it is hot add ½ to ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds and let them sizzle.
6. Then add 1 broken dried red chilies and fry for 30 seconds. Quickly add hing.
7. Next add ¼ cup chopped onions and fry until golden.
8. Add 1 teaspoon ginger or garlic (¾ inch ginger or 2 garlic cloves). Saute just until the raw smell goes away.
9. Transfer chopped ½ cup chopped tomatoes or ¼ cup pureed tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon turmeric and ½ teaspoon salt.
10. Saute well until the tomatoes turn mushy. Then add ¼ to ¾ teaspoon red chili powder and ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala.
11. Again fry this for a few mins till the raw smell goes away.
Cook Chana Dal with Masala
12. Next transfer the cooked dal along with the stock in cooker. You may add ¼ to ½ cup water if required to bring it to consistency.
13. Mash gently a few lentils and cook for a few minutes until the dal turns thick. Add ½ teaspoon kasuri methi and ½ teaspoon amchur (optional).
14. Cook further for 1 to 2 mins. Sprinkle coriander leaves.
Serve chana dal with plain rice, jeera rice, ghee rice, paratha or roti. Squeeze some lemon juice before serving.
For more Dal recipes, you can check
Dal makhani
Masoor dal
Moong dal
Dal fry
Dal palak
Pro Tips
Soaking chana dal: Soaking the lentils for will help them cook faster. A lot of people prefer to soak chana dal, as soaking also helps in easier digestion & avoid bloating. If making for toddlers, soak them for 4 to 6 hours. You can also refrigerate the soaked lentils for about a week so cooking becomes much easier.
Onions: A lot of times we also make this recipe without onions. We do not find much difference in the taste.
Tomatoes: Tomatoes add a depth of flavour, tang and taste to the chana dal fry. You can use more or less to suit your taste. Use them either chopped or pureed as per your liking.
Spices: We personally like to spice our lentil dishes to the minimum and here we prefer the flavour of chana dal to shine in so you won’t find a lot of whole or ground spices in this recipe.
If you prefer to use them, you can add a bay leaf and cinnamon stick either to the tempering along with cumin seeds or add them to the dal directly when you cook them initially.
Vegetables or leafy greens: We love our chana dal with various veggies and leafy greens. Sometimes I add carrots, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, yellow cucumber, spinach or methi leaves in this recipe. If using leafy greens add them to the tempering after cooking tomatoes. Wilt them and cook for a while before adding the dal.
I pressure cook other veggies with the lentils, the veggies turn mushy but that’s how we like.
Choosing lentils: Buy lentils from a store where the stocks move out faster. Old/aged stock of lentils take longer or even forever to cook. So buy from a store where you get fresher stocks.
But if you have already bought old stock lentils, then place them in a bowl and pour hot boiling water. Cover and rest for an hour before cooking.
Related posts
Recipe Card
Chana Dal Recipe (Bengal Gram Dal)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- ½ cup chana dal (bengal gram)
- 1¼ cup water (1½ cups for pot & instant pot)
To Temper
- 2 tablespoon ghee or oil or butter
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon cumin (jeera)
- ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida (hing) (optional)
- 1 small onion (¼ cup chopped)
- 1 green chili chopped (skip if making for kids)
- 1 teaspoon ginger or garlic (chopped or paste, ¾ inch ginger or 2 garlic cloves)
- 1 medium tomato (½ cup chopped finely or ¼ cup tomato puree)
- 1 dried red chili broken (less spicy variety, optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ to ¾ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder (adjust to taste)
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala (adjust to taste)
- ¼ to ½ cup water (use as needed to bring to consistency)
- ½ teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) (optional)
To Garnish & Serve
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (cilantro chopped finely)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or ¼ to ½ tsp dried mango powder (amchur powder)
Instructions
Preparation
- Add chana dal to a pot or cooker. Rinse a few times until water runs clear. Soak it in regular water for 1 to 4 hours as per your convenience.
- Later drain the water and pour 1¼ cups fresh water. If cooking in a pot pour 1½ cups water.
- Cook chana dal on a medium heat until soft and completely done. Dal must hold shape, yet get mashed well if you mash it .
- If using pressure cooker you may need to cook it any where for 3 to 5 whistles depending on the brand of cooker. When the pressure releases, open the lid.
Temper Chana Dal
- Heat ghee or oil in a pan. Add cumin and red chili. Saute until cumin begins to splutter.
- Add hing, green chilies and onions. Saute very well until the onions turn lightly golden.
- Next ginger or ginger garlic paste. Saute for 30 to 60 seconds until it turns aromatic.
- Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric. Saute and cook until the tomatoes turn soft.
- Next add chili powder and garam masala.
- Saute for 1 to 2 mins. Make sure raw smell of all the ingredients has gone completely & the masala smells good.
- Add chana dal along with the left over stock or water in the pot/ cooker.
- Mix everything well and if needed add little water to bring it to a consistency you like.
- Lightly mash the dal with the spatula to get a thick consistency. Cook until the chana dal begins to bubble well. Do not overcook.
- Add crushed kasuri methi and amchur powder (optional).
- Stir and turn off the stove. Add some coriander leaves & squeeze in some lemon juice.
- Transfer chana dal to a serving bowl. Serve with rice, ghee, papad or a veg salad.
Instant Pot Chana Dal
- Pour oil to the steel insert and press saute button. Once the oil is slightly hot, add cumin seeds. As soon as they splutter, add hing, green chilli and onions.
- Stir fry until transparent for 2 mins. Add ginger garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder and garam masala.
- Saute for 2 to 3 mins and add the chana dal. Pour water and deglaze the pot by scrubbing the bottom of the steel pot with a spatula.
- Secure the instant pot with the lid and position the steel release handle to sealing. Press pressure cook button and set the timer to 13 minutes.
- When the pressure drops open the lid and check. Chana dal should be soft cooked yet holding its shape. If you want a slightly consistency, you may mash some of the lentils with the back of the spoon.
- Stir in crushed kasuri methi. If you want you can also add half teaspoon amchur, more salt and garam masala at this stage. If the lentils are runny, simmer for a few more minutes. If you like it runny, add some boiling hot water and cook on a saute mode for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Turn off when the chana dal is still runny as it thickens upon cooling. Squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
- You may soak the chana dal for 1 hour in hot water so they cook faster.
- Avoid using older stock of lentils as they take forever to cook.
- Add 1 cup of chopped spinach to the onion tomato masala and saute until the leaves wilt. Then pour the cooked chana dal. If cooking in instant pot, add the spinach after the lentils are cooked. Simmer for 1 to 2 mins until the spinach wilts.
- You can skip the onions completely and add a small carrot.
- Reduce the amount of chili powder, garam masala & skip green chilies if making for toddlers & kids.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Chana dal recipe first published in May 2018. Updated and republished in August 2021.
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Followed the recipe exactly but added mustard and curry leaves to the tadka. I had some coconut milk to use up, so I used that as well. Turned out delicious
Simple and fast recipe. I cooked chana dal in yakhni and made the masala with ghee. It turned out delicious. Thank you for the easy recipes
Glad you like it Maria. Thank you for sharing back
Supper Delicious recipe
Yummy
Being a South Indian I have never made a chana dal like this. This was delicious and loved amchur. Thank you Swasthi
Akhila, that’s really nice to know. Thank you for sharing back how it went for you
I am a beginner and trying to cook healthy homemade meals. I made this chana dal recipe and it turned out delicious. Loving the flavors and it is so simple. Why not mention about the whole spices in the recipe or in the notes instead of the comments. I see many are asking about it. Next time I am going to try with all the whole spices you mentioned there. Thank you for all the beautiful recipes
So glad to read that Nina. Yes I can update it in the notes. Thanks for your suggestion. Do try with whole spices if you really like them
OMG this is the best chana dal and it’s so simple to make! This recipe has been on weekly rotation for years now. My meat eating husband and kids loves as much as I do. I don’t have a pressure cooker, so soaking in hot water for an hour works the best, cooks under 25 mins while I make the masala. Recently I have also started to use whole spices. Cinnamon and black cardamom are amazing. Thank you for posting.
That’s really nice to know Rebecca. Soaking really helps with softening the lentils and cuts down the cook time. Thanks for trying and sharing back how you made it.
I have been making many of your recipes and have bought whole spices. I would like to use them more often. Please let me know if any of the biryani spices can be used in this recipe and at what stage do I add them
Hi Sam,
Not all biryani spices can be used in this chana dal. You can add 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, 2 green cardamoms, 1 black cardamom, 1 inch cinnamon to the tempering along with cumin seeds. Hope you enjoy
Made this chana dal tonight and it was amazing! Garnished with barista and it was an excellent addition! A little smoked paprika at the last stage gave a real kick. Thank you for sharing!
Glad you like it Lucy. Thank you
I made this chana dal last week and it turned out delicious. Do you have a recommendation to make it spicer & more special for occasions?
Thanks Praty,
you may double the ground spices for more heat and spicy flavors. To make it special, you can use fried onions for regular onions and add more whole spices like cinnamon, cloves, black cardamoms. Or simply cook the raw onions until brown. This brings a lot of flavor.
Hi there,
This chana dal looks delicious. I am new to Indian cooking and trying to learn. Do you have a separate post/instructions on how to cook lentils without a pressure cooker? Please advice.
Hi,
Thank you. You just need to soak and cook them in surplus water. I have the details included in the post. If you want you may take a look at this split chickpeas post to see the pictures of how I cooked without a cooker. Hope this helps
I just made this chana dal recipe and it turned so well. I don’t have a pressure cooker so cooked it in Dutch oven and it took about 45 minutes for the lentils to soften. Looks like I need to buy an IP to make things easier. Thank you for everything you do.
Thanks Delilah,
You can soak the chana dal in boiling hot water for 1 hour or soak for 2 hours in cold water. This helps to cook them faster.
Delicious chana dal. Followed the recipe exactly except to add a black cardamom and a little piece of cinnamon while cooking the lentils.
Yes black cardamom and cinnamon goes well in chana dal. Thanks for trying Suriya
Yr recipies r always good and tasty. We love all the recipies I tried out. Pls send notifications of new recipie. Would like to know how to make different powders for cooking. Give some diabetes recipie to bring down sugar. Thank u swathi.
Thank you Carolyn. I will add you to the email subscribers list. You will receive notifications of new recipes. Thanks again
Truly beautiful. From all the Indian recipes we have been trying from meat to cheese to fish… This vegetarian curry is the best so far. Incredible flavour thank you.
Glad you like it Chris. Thank you
Smells great as thus is my first time to cook
Is it slow release or quick release when time is up
On InstaPot
Let the pressure release naturally.
This daal recipe is really looking healthy and yummy. I will try it at home. Please also share some other that are uncommon.
Hi Matin,
Please use the search on the menu to locate more recipes. Hope you enjoy this recipe
Would it be ok to use the Kashmiri chili powder in this or would that mess with the flavor profile?
Yes it is Kashmiri red chili powder. I will update it in the recipe card.
I love your chana dal recipe. Made it a few times and it is so easy and tastes delicious
I am so glad I found your website, Swasthi! Since I rarely use my Ultra Mini Instant Pot, I decided to follow this recipe’s instructions for pressure cooking. They were perfect–I love the combination of sautéing and closed-lid cooking and the results complemented brown basmati and bhinda nu shaak (okra). Understated and filling; I personally like dal on the dry side, so I’d add less water next time. Thank you. Question: any tips on ridding the spicy aroma from the inner ring of the Instant Pot lid?
Thank you so much Eliz. That’s a nice meal. Pour 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 cup water to the instant pot insert. Pressure cook for 1 minute, for stronger smells do it for 3 minutes. Let pressure drop and discard the water immediately. Leave the IP uncovered until dry. A lot of Indians add lemon peels while steaming to get rid of odor. But not everyone likes the smell it leaves behind. Hope this helps
Thank you. This is a wonderful recipe that I have been cooking many times this past winter. I think chana dal is my favorite lentil – it has a beautiful flavour, and is a very satisfying meal. I love it with the tomato addition. I make a large recipe using 2 cups of channa dal, and I often add spinach or swiss chard, and serve with roti and yogurt. Thank you very much for this recipe which has become a staple for me.
So glad to know Capucine. Yes I agree chana dal has a unique & more nutty flavor than the other lentils. Thank you so much for sharing back. That makes me so happy!
🙂