Loved it!.. My sister in-law made this the last time we were there and I really enjoyed it! Having found the recipe on here, I decided to try to make it too. I was happy with the results! I added about 5 cups water in the pot with the peas. I brought the peas to a boil then turned off the stove to let them soak until I was ready to make. Then I cooked the peas about 45 minutes. I left out the asafoetida after reading reviews. I also substituted finely chopped carrot and onion for the tomatoes which I cooked in margarine along with the spices. I used 1/2 tsp of cayenne for the heat. I forgot the garlic, but it wasn't lacking flavor! I will use it next time. Served over basmati rice along with chicken kebabs and nan bread.

This is a good basic dal, but it doesn't taste the same as what I've had in India. I didn't have Asafoetida so I omitted that. It wasn't spicy enough so next time I'll add more spice and jalapeno peppers. It was good so I'll make it again and again (I love Indian food), just trying different ways to get the authentic flavor. Thanks for posting the recipe, though!

This dish is very tasty and flavorful. However, it could have used more heat for my taste. Next time I will add more of the jalapeno. My Indian friend also suggested adding a sauteed onion. Overall, this dish was very easy to make. Of course, a chopping device helps in dicing up so many of the items (e.g. tomato, ginger, cilantro). The one thing I did differently to this recipe was in lieu of using yellow lentils, I used red lentils. The red lentils are smaller in size than the yellow I have, so they cooked much faster. Also, I had to babysit the lentils as they cooked, and had to frequently add water.

I took my cue from the cocmments by Ednicious and viewed it as an "enthusiastic" dahl - and I made it a bit differently but it came out great! I soaked the split yellow peas for a few hours, which both softens them and helps to reduce gassy side-effects for people not used to eating them. For the people who said they take much longer to cook, perhaps they are using a different kind of pea. I found mine in the ethnic food aisle of my supermarket, and it was marked Mung Dal. I sauteed an onion, cubanelle pepper, some carrots, roma tomatoes (all chopped up in my mini food processor) in some olive oil, added some frozen corn kernels, and let them soften. I added a couple of garlic cloves, let them cook a bit, and then added my spices: about a teaspoon of chili powder I had toasted prior, 1 ts of ground ginger (didn't have fresh), 1/2 ts of coriander, 1 ts of cumin, and a couple of bay leaves and some salt. I let that sautee with the veggies a little and added the drained peas (2 cups). Then I added 4 cups of chicken broth and let it cook for 20 minutes while I cooked some jasmine rice. It was super yummy. My point is that you really can make it your own and develop it according to your tastes if you don't have the exact recipe components on hand. :)

Good simple daal recipe

I haven't actually made this recipe yet, just wanted to comment on the asafoetida. This is a key ingredient that is used mainly to cut the flatulance caused by lentils and split-peas. Also, once cooked in oil or ghee the odor mellows out and becomes more like onions or garlic.

Delicious! I soaked the peas for 4 hours, it still took much longer than recipe called for, at least 45 minutes. I think it is important to use cumin seed as recipe states, rather than ground cumin. I used 2 jalepenos and 4 cloves of garlic. I wish I new what a "pinch" is, but it turned out to be the right amount of hing powder. Tasted great the next day. This was as good as the restaurant near my office. Thanks for saving me some money on takeout!

A great basic dahl recipe. It can also be enhanced with all manner of vegetable matter to round out your diet: diced broccoli, sweet corn kernels, red/green/yellow bell pepper, chopped fennel, plus more. We call it the enthusiastic dahl--because we can put everything we've got into it. Adding garam masala towards the end of cooking increases flavour without heat. Lightly toasting dry chilli powder at the start in oil likewise increases flavour without increasing the heat factor as much as adding it later would. Adding a small can of coconut milk during cooking will enrich the flavour for festive occasions and/or provide much-needed fats for (thinner) vegetarians. The dahl can also be garnished with lime juice and tabasco sauce as well as some chopped cilantro. Chapatti fried in butter makes a nice accompaniment and alternative to the basmati rice or brown rice standard. Hing can be stored in a well sealing jar--such as that used for premium instant coffees. Even if you do not drink coffee, it's a small price to pay for a practical solution to the Hing smell issue. N.B. Hing seems to work well with the flavour of cardamom seeds and makes a killer red lentil dahl.

A tasty and interesting dish, but I did have to make a few changes. I used two jalepenos, with seeds. I used a full cup of tomato sauce. I doubled all of the spices, including the ginger and garlic. I soaked the peas for two hours, then cooked them for about 45 min. And I omitted the Asafoetida, the cilantro, and the dried red peppers. After all that, the finished product was delicious! I'll definitely be making this again.

After reading all the reviews here, I tried making this with different proportions. I also soaked the moong beans for about 2 hours – and it STILL took well over an hour to cook and continual additions of water. In the end, though, this came out delicious! 2 ½ cups moong beans 2 ½ cups water 1 ½ t salt 1 T grated fresh ginger root 1 diced jalapeno pepper (seeded) 1 cup diced tomatoes Juice of 1 lime ½ T ground turmeric 3 T vegetable oil 1 ½ t cumin seed 1 dried red chile pepper 1 pinch onion/garlic powder 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Be prepared! The split peas take a good 45 minutes to 1 hour to cook...not 20 minutes!! And I soaked mine overnight. That said, the flavour was okay, but nothing to write home about.

not completely impressed. definitely need to triple (at least) the spices so it has more flavor and make sure you cook the moong dal long enough. not sure i'll make it again.

This works great with toasted bread or flatbread

This is the first Indian recipe I've ever made, and I loved it! Seemed pretty easy to make and the leftovers were tasty.

I concur -- this is "Yummy". It helps that I already love Indian food. What I learned from this recipe: - substitutions work well: I used the limes of 4 whole limes (3 TB) not lemon - I did not use asafoejida or anything to substitute for it - I used coconut oil to make this makers-diet-friendly, but it probably added to the flavor, and finally - the one part of this recipe that made this dish more "Indian" in the sense of "like the Indian restaurants I frequent" was adding cumin to the oil. When I did that, it was instantly flavored and scented like I imagines it should be. Bon Appetit!

I'd like to chime in about the aesofetida. It is also labeled "Hing" and you can find it in most ethnic stores. My Indian buddies tell me that lots of Indians won't even have the stuff in the house (It's really kind of overwhelming). I don't particularly like it, so, be warned and go easy on it, it stinks to high heaven. Substituting onion powder (with a little garlic powder thrown in) is a great idea.

very good. instead of soaking the moong dal, i used preasure cooker to cook it.then i added it to tomatoes. i let the dal cool down before adding the lemon juice. thanks