Methi Dal Recipe (Menthi Kura Pappu)

Methi Dal translates to fenugreek with lentils. It is a simple, quick, delicious and healthy Indian lentil dish made by simmering fenugreek leaves with lentils (toor dal), herbs and spices. Methi Dal is best served with plain steamed rice & a little ghee. It can also be served with Chapati, roti, bhakri, plain parathas, quinoa or millets. A Vegetable salad or Kachumber, papads, yogurt and pickle go well as sides.

Like every other Indian dish, even lentils aka dal is cooked in countless number of ways.

About Methi Dal

The quickest & the easiest way to make Methi Dal is to dump all the ingredients – dal, fenugreek leaves, tomatoes, onions, chilies, garlic, turmeric and water to a pressure cooker.

Pressure cook until soft and then make a tadka/tempering with whole and ground spices like the way I have shown in this Dal Tadka recipe. This is one way I make when I’m short of time.

Being a Mom to the pickiest boys I often deviate from the easy cooking methods to make our food more delicious.

This recipe is one such and makes a delicious bowl of methi dal which is going to be loved by everyone. Not too spicy and hot but the subtle flavors of methi and curry leaves makes this dish taste delicious & flavorful.

We don’t like our everyday dal with tons of hot spices and that’s how this Methi dal is made. It’s a lovely change from all those spicy & greasy Indian dishes. It is toddler/ kids friendly too.

If you want you may increase the spice levels or even use garam masala if you want.

If you love experimenting your foods with new flavors you can also make this in Andhra Style. It is known as Menthi Kura Pappu & uses tamarind to impart tang and this actually cuts down the bitter flavor of the methi leaves.

At home we don’t appreciate the tamarind flavors much so I use a generous amount of lemon juice while serving. A lot of times I also use the unripe green mango or dried mango (dehydrated unripe mango pieces) to impart the tangy flavors. It somewhat tastes like methi in Mango Pappu.

For more Dal recipes,
Dal fry
Dal palak
Moong dal recipe
Chana dal recipe
Tomato pappu
Gongura pappu

Photo Guide

How to Make Methi Dal (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. For this recipe you can use only toor dal (split pigeon peas) or a combination of toor dal and mung dal. I prefer to use half cup toor dal and 2 tablespoons of moong dal for flavor. If you don’t like you may leave out the moong dal.

2. Add them to a pot or pressure cooker. Rinse well and pour 1.5 cups water. Add ⅛ teaspoon turmeric as well.

3. Add 1 to 2 green chilies and ¾ cup chopped tomato (I also prefer to deseed them). If you have young kids you may leave out the green chilies. Pressure cook for 2 whistles on a medium flame. If using a Instant pot, pressure cook for 10 mins at high pressure.

To cook without pressure cooker, bring the water to a rolling boil and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the lentils are soft and tender. If required pour more boiling water as you cook. Add the tomatoes and green chilies and let cook until they break down and turn mushy.

4. While the dal cooks, pluck and clean the methi leaves. I use 2 cups leaves here. You may chop them. I forgot to do that here.

Temper

5. Get the ingredients ready for tempering. You will need:

• ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 dried red chili broken (optional)
• 1 sprig curry leaves (optional)
• 1 pinch hing (asafoetida, optional)

6. Heat 1½ tablespoon Ghee or oil in a pan. Add mustard, cumin seeds & red chilies. When they begin to splutter, add curry leaves and hing. I don’t use red chili powder so I add extra green chilies here.

7. Add hing and then methi leaves.

8. Saute methi leaves until they completely wilt. Add ¼ teaspoon red chili powder if you want. I don’t use. Turn off the heat.

9. Your dal should be soft cooked and mushy.

9. Mash the tomatoes gently.

10. Add the methi tempering and salt.

11. Mix well and simmer for 2 to 3 mins. Taste test and add more salt. If you want add ¼ teaspoon garam masala at this stage. To make it more hot, simply mash the green chilies in your methi dal. Cool down a bit and add lemon juice.

Serve methi dal hot with rice, chapati or parathas.

Pro Tips

• There is a huge difference between the Methi dal made with & without red chili powder. We are partial here and love the dal made without red chili powder. I use enough green chilies to provide the heat. But if you can’t eat green chilies due to diet reasons, simply use red chili powder.
• You can add a small chopped onion along with tomatoes. It adds sweet tones and reduces the bitterness in methi leaves.
• 4 cups methi leaves is the standard I use for every cup of dal. You can use more but make sure you cook the leaves well or even pressure cook. While consuming large amounts of methi leaves it is ideal to pressure cook them or cook for longer time for easier digestion else it can cause acidity.

Related Recipes

Methi Dal Recipe first published in May 2015. Updated & Republished in June 2023.

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