Panchmel dal recipe – Panchmel or panchratna dal, as one may call is a dal from Rajasthan. As the name signifies its flavourful combination of 5 different dals. With the amalgamation of five different lentils, it gets super protein packed.
Table of contents
What is Panchmel dal
Panchmel gets its name from hindi meaning of “mixture of five”. This panchmel contains mixture of 5 dals found in northern part of India.
So why its called Panchranta? Ratna in hindi means, gems. These 5 different types of dals are nothing short of gems in own right and hence called panchratna too.
What are five dals in panchmel dal
- Split Toor Dal / Arhar Dal
- Red Split Dal / Masoor Dal
- Bengal Gram Lentil / Chana Dal
- Black Urad Dal
- Green Moong Dal
About this recipe
If you from Indian subcontinent, you will already know that dal is indispensable part of Indian cuisine. Dal rice is considered most comforting food. Dal is one such thing, which you can find across the whole width and length of India. This panchranta dal offers comforting and delicious taste, along with nutritious value.
This recipe is from Rajasthan and traditionally Rajasthani food is considered to be royal in taste, as laal maas. This dal can be equally considered royal, especially when served with ghee soaked baati.
My this recipe is inspired by how I found it a local dhaba near Jaipur. I won’t call myself food critique, however I have made this Rajasthani dal for guests at home, who had been picky in past and they were all ga-ga over this dal. This dal gets approval ticks, try yourself to see.
This recipe uses pressure cooker, however you can use instant pot too.
Method
- First of all, wash and soak all the dals in enough water for 1 hour.
- Transfer dal in a pressure cooker and add salt, turmeric powder and 2.5 cup of water and let it cook for 3-4 whistle. After that, switch off the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
- Heat ghee in a pan over medium heat and add asafoetida and cumin seeds and allow it to crackle. Add dry red chillies.
- Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick , chopped onion and sauté till light golden. Add green chillies, ginger and garlic and sauté until the raw smell fades.
- Now add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and sauté until the mixture oozes ghee.
- Transfer the boiled Dal into it and mix well. Adjust amount of water if required depending upon your desired consistency, and let it boil for few minutes. Add garam masala and mix well.
- Switch off the heat and transfer the Panchmel Dal to a serving bowl (I used Kadai here)
- Now for tempering, heat ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and red chillies and allow them to crackle. Add red chilli powder and switch off the heat. Pour this tadka over the Panchmel Dal and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve the Panchmel Dal hot with rice or bread of your choice.
FAQs
You need to cook this dal on high pressure for 10mins in Instant Pot.
You can use two, three, four types of dal as you may have in your pantry. More the merrier, its the spices and ways of cooking which makes this dal ever so scrumptious.
I will highly recommend soaking dal. If you have not preplanned for it, don’t be disheartened, just increase the duration of pressure cooking. Soaking is mostly handy when making this dal in kadai or open pan, as it saves time (and fuel).
Yes, you may freeze this dal. Keep in airtight container. You may freeze this dal before or after tempering. If you have choice, freeze pre-tempering.
Why to make this dal?
- Simple recipe and fuss free cooking
- Does not take hours of cooking to make this delicious dal
- Rich in nutrients
- Make it vegan, use vegan ghee or use oil
- Offers heart content taste
- Make in advance, keep refrigerated for couple of days
- Suits for weekday or weekend cooking.
- This dal has dhaba style flavours
Serving suggestion
Serve this dal piping hot, along with boiled rice, or in traditional Rajasthani way with baati soaked in ghee.
Pro Tips
- This Dal tastes best when cooked in clarified butter.
- Always check the cooked Dal whether they are soft properly before adding to the onion tomato mixture.
- This Dal shouldn’t be too thick or too thin in consistency.
- You can use whole moong, urad and masoor dals instead of split ones. Similarly you can use moong and urad Dals with skin too.
Other Dal Recipes
If you wish to explore some other delicious dals, look no beyond, and click through to some of my ever loved dal recipes
Dal Maharani
Dal Bukhara
Dhaba Style Dal Tadka
Brown Dal
Dal Makhni
Recipe Card
Panchmel Dal
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Split Toor Dal / Arhar Dal
- 1/4 Cup Red Split Dal / Masoor Dal
- 1/4 Cup Bengal Gram Lentil / Chana Dal
- 1/4 Cup Black Urad Dal
- 1/4 Cup Green Moong Dal
- 5 Tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter
- 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
- 1/4 Tsp Asafoetida
- 1 Onion Medium Size – Finely Chopped
- 2-3 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped
- 1 Tbsp Ginger Grated
- 2 Green chillies Chopped
- 1 Bayleaves
- 1 Inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 Tomatoes Medium Size – Finely Chopped
- 1 Tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1 Tsp Salt As per taste
For Tempering
- 1 Tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter
- 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
- 2-3 Dry Red Chillies
- 1/4 Tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
- 1 Tbsp Fresh Coriander Leaves Chopped
Instructions
- First of all, wash and soak all the dals in enough water for 1 hour.
- Transfer them in a pressure cooker and add salt, turmeric powder and 2.5 cup of water and let it cook for 3-4 whistle. After that, switch off the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
- Heat ghee in a pan over medium heat and add asafoetida and cumin seeds and allow it to crackle.
- Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick , chopped onion and sauté till light golden. Add green chillies, ginger and garlic and saute until the raw smell fades.
- Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and saute until the mixture oozes ghee.
- Transfer the boiled Dal into it and mix well. Adjust amount of water if required depending upon your desired consistency, and let it boil for few minutes. Add garam masala and mix well.
- Switch off the heat and transfer the Panchmel Dal to a serving bowl.
- Now for tempering, heat ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and red chillies and allow them to crackle. Add red chilli powder and switch off the heat. Pour this tadka over the Panchmel Dal and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
- Serve the Panchmel Dal Hot with rice or bread of your choice.
Notes
- This Dal tastes best when cooked in clarified butter.
- Always check the cooked Dal whether they are soft properly before adding to the onion tomato mixture.
- This Dal shouldn’t be too thick or too thin in consistency.
- You can use whole moong, urad and masoor dals instead of split ones. Similarly you can use moong and urad Dals with skin too.
Thanks for introducing this dal recipe. I never had this before hence can’t say how it may be. But what I got from following the recipe is a delicious dal. Something new, something yum. Will be good if you share videos too.
Tried making this daal and it turned out to be very different from the actual recipe because of the changes and modifications that I had to make. Not sure if I would make this again since it was not very easy to follow and there are a few things lacking in terms of explaining the dish.
– nowhere does it is mentioned that what level should the stove/has heat be on medium, high, low hence you have to assume and put in your best judgement and make it
– even though the recipe says 2.5 cups of water in the daal while putting in a pressure cooker, that turned out to be very less and the daal got burnt
– images are not provided at every step, some images are skipped and those are the times you have to assume that how the dish is supposed to look at that certain stage
Overall, thank you for the recipe and your effort.
Hi Saddaf,
Sorry to hear that you faced challenges.
Your inputs are considered.
There have been some basic assumptions taken whilst drafting recipe, such as by the nature of “pressure cooking” it means high heat. Pressure cooking does not happen on low heat. However, I do realise now that I should focus on that.
Likewise, I am little surprised that dal got burnt and water was less, 1 Cup normally is around 250ml. Perhaps, water was less?
There are other variables too, such as dal from one brand may boil quick compared to other. Hence, some level of pragmatism is required.
Of course, I am available on instagram @yourfoodfantasy for prompt responses if stuck or in doubt with something.
Kind regards,
Meenu