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Lentil Veggie Dhansak Recipe. Dal and vegetables cooked with spices. Parsi dhansak Recipe. Make this dal dhansak in Instant Pot Pressure Cooker or in a Saucepan. Serve over rice or flatbread or garlic bread. Vegan Gluten-free Soyfree Nut-free Indian Recipe.
Dhansak /dansak /dhan saak is an Indian dish from the Parsi community. It has various regional adaptations. It combines elements of Persian and Gujarati cuisine (cuisine of the state of Gujarat). Dhansak generally is made by cooking some meat with a mixture of lentils and vegetables, while the vegetarian version uses just lentils and veggies.
Dhansak can be simply spiced to retain the flavors of the vegetables or lentils, or can be flavored with various spices. It is often served over caramelized onion rice (rice cooked with caramelized onions). This version is a simply spiced dhansak with a combination of lentils, vegetables and greens. Use any vegetables in this amazing dish.
Flexible to your palate and a delicious 1 Pot meal. Perfect to use up the assorted seasonal veggies and greens and so flavorful. Make it in an Instant Pot or in a saucepan, but definitely make this simple, delicious and nutritious meal! The fresh raw ginger and chile in the lentils and veggies make it a different and fresh flavored stew.
Dhan means grains and Saak/Shak means vegetables. This Vegetable Dal curry is served over brown rice, which is rice cooked with caramelized onion. To make the rice, caramelize an onion with 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp sugar and a pinch of salt. Add rice, water, salt and bay leaf and cook the rice until done to preference. The version in the pictures has only a few fenugreek leaves for the greens which are mixed in, hence all the prominent yellow dal.
If you make this, do let me know in the comments how it worked for you and also rate the recipe.
More 1 pot Veggie Meals from the blog
- Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coonut sauce
- Mushroom Matar Masala
- Bombay Potato and Peas
- Tofu in Spinach Curry – Saag Tofu
Veggie Lentil Dhansak Instant Pot
Ingredients
Dal and Veggies:
- 3/4 cup total split dals, combination of red lentils(masoor dal and yellow lentils(mung dal) or toor and moong dal)
- 2 cups chopped vegetables (heaped), such as cauliflower, eggplant, zuchhini, opo squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, broccoli etc)
- 1 cup packed chopped greens, such as spinach, fresh fenugreek leaves, mustard leaves, chard or amaranth
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 hot green chile minced
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp dhana jeera powder* , or 1/2 tsp garam masala + 1/2 tsp coriander powder + a good pinch of ground cloves
Tempering:
- 1 tsp oil
- 3/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 cup chopped onion (heaped)
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp garam masala, or more as needed
Instructions
- Soak the dals for 15 mins to half hour. Drain and combine in a pressure cooker/Instant pot with the vegetables, and the rest of the ingredients under Dals and Veggies(ginger, garlic, spices)and 2.5 to 3 cups water. Cook for 3 minutes on manual (high pressure). Let the pressure release naturally.
- Meanwhile, make the tempering. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add mustard and cumin seeds and let them start to pop. Add onion and garlic and cook until golden, stirring occasionally. (a heavy bottom pan, a good pinch of salt and stirring at regular intervals gives an even golden onion). Add garam masala and mix in .
- Once the pressure has released, open the lid. At this point you can mash the veggies and lentils for a more traditional version..
- Mix in half the tempering into the lentil vegetable mixture in the Instant Pot. Taste and adjust salt and heat(cayenne). Add more salt and garam masala if needed. Garnish with the remaining half tempering, cilantro and lemon juice and serve.
- Serve with rice, flatbread, toasted bread or garlic bread, garlic naan and kachumbar salad (cucumber tomato onion salad).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great recipe, Richa! I love the nutritional combo of both the daal and the vegetables in a one-pot meal!
Hello Richa,
Alas, I live with a meat eater. If I wanted to make this with 1lb of chicken, how much more time would I add?
Thank you so much,
John
i made this with the veggies I had on hand- cauliflower, multicolored carrots, baby potatoes, and Trader Joe’s cooking greens. I used garam masala since I just got some fresh masala yesterday. I had moong and masoor dals on hand so that is what I used. It turned out perfectly in the Instapot. We loved it!
Thanks
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! It turned out beautifully and the family all loved it. I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Regards, Jennifer
Awesome! Thank you!
I’ve made this several times, with different veggies, and each time it’s been delicious! I love your recipes, thank you so much.
awesome! thanks!
I have never commented on a recipe before, but I have to tell you how fabulous this is. I’m not Parsi, so I don’t know if it’s authentic. It is, however, delicious. For what it’s worth, because my spouse has digestive issues, he cannot eat garlic, onions, wheat, cauliflower, zucchini, and many other things. (High FODMAP foods.) So, I made a batch eliminating the garlic, onions, cauliflower, and wheat and instead used garlic oil (the “bad” stuff in garlic is only water soluble) and asafoetida. It was nevertheless still fabulous. This is going to become a go-to dish for us! Thanks for posting it.
awesome!
I think I messed this one up. All I had were red lentils . I can’t find yellow Dal or even yellow split peas anywhere in my town. And I tried to double the recipe. But I ended up using too much liquid . And I used two green chiles instead of one. And they were very mature with quite a bit of red on them . They ended up overpowering some of the more delicate flavors. Also I haven’t had much luck pressure cooking dal (red lentils, yellow split peas). They always seem to disintegrate. Oh well. Better luck next time.
Red lentils are quick cooking, so they will disintegrate any which way. split peas should not disintegrate in the 3 to 5 min pressure cooking time, as they are pretty hardy. Dals(dal recipes) with red lentils are supposed to be smooth and disintegrated. And they disintegrate more when you mix after pressure cooking. You an also use whole brown lentils so they dont disintegrate.
The chilies vary really by their mood, so the heat cant be known before hand.
This sounds very interesting but I’m curious on where does the yellow Dahl fit in this color scheme. I know read dissipates very quickly but I’ve never been able to find yellow locally. Could you explain which is the hardest down to which one dissipates the quickest. Thank you
give this article a look: https://fettabbau-trim.today/indian-dals-names/%3C/a%3E%E2%80%9C%3EIndian Dals Names
Hi, sounds amazing. Trying to make it now but a little confused. You don’t add water to the pot with the lentils?
its int he first instruction. i forgot to add the water to the ingredients. See ” Drain and combine in a pressure cooker/Instant pot with the vegetables, and the rest of the ingredients under Dals and Veggies(ginger, garlic, spices)and 2.5 to 3 cups water.”
I saw almost directly after posting this. I’m sorry, thanks for responding. It was absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing 😊
I very rarely comment on anything online…but I have to say, this is absolutely delicious! It has become a weekly fixture in our house. I have bought one of your books for my kindle and am looking forward to trying out some of your other recipes. Thank you.
Thank you! glad it turned out so good! Happy cooking.