Dal soup. An easy to make, flavor packed soup perfect for cooler evenings. It’s satisfying, delicious, and loaded with nutrients. Your favorite lentil or dal is cooked with aromatic spices and herbs, and then puréed into silky smooth soup. The final tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves add a delicious touch.
What’s the key to the best vegetarian soup? Obviously, it’s the clever use of highly flavorful ingredients like spices, herbs and the right cooking technique. Here’s a delicious and comforting soup recipe for any day of the week.
Dal soup or lentil soup. A flavorful soup loaded with the goodness of lentils. The spices and herbs take the flavor to next level. Cooked lentils are tempered with some mustard seeds and tempered spices for extra deliciousness.
Dal Soup Recipe
Prep the soup - Start with sauteing ginger, garlic and bay leaf in a little oil. Next, cook lentils with water and vegetable stock. Masoor dal (red lentils) require less cooking time compared to other lentils. Once cooked, blend to form silky smooth soup. To this, you’ll need to add your spices like ground turmeric, ground cumin and red chili powder.
Tempering - Splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil and add it to the soup.
More Soup Recipes:
- Indian Hot And Sour Soup
- Coriander Lemon Soup
- Mulligatawny Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Soup - Indian Style
- Indian Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Soup
- Chicken Celery Soup
- South Indian Chicken Soup / Chettinadu Chicken Soup
Dal Soup | Lentil Soup
Ingredients
Soup:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup lentils I used masoor dal, rinsed (see notes)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup vegetable stock broth
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- Salt to taste
Tempered spices:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat-high heat.
- Add bay leaf, minced ginger and garlic. Sauté, stirring, for about 1 minute or until aromatic.
- Add water and vegetable broth (stock).
- Add dal. Stir to combine.
- Cook for about 6-8 minutes or until mushy.
- Remove bay leaf.
- Using a stick blender, blend the soup to make silky smooth purée.
- Add turmeric, cumin and red chili powder. Season with salt. Stir to combine. Simmer for about 2 minutes.
- To make the tempered spices, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a frying pan. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Fry for a few seconds or until the mustard seeds pop. Add tempered spices to the soup. Stir.
- Garnish with coriander (cilantro) leaves if you like.
Video
Notes
- You can also use a mixture of masoor dal, tuvar dal and moong dal)
- Vegetable broth (stock) can be substituted with chicken broth (stock)
Nutrition
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Patrick says
Looks great.
but you haven't said when to put the Dhal in the pot.
Rose Mary George says
Alongside water and broth (stock).
Stewart says
Could you add lemon juice at the end to lift it slightly? Also any other ideas on garnishing… no curry leaves at the moment!
Rose Mary George says
Lemon juice would be a great idea. For garnish, you can use coriander (cilantro) leaves.