To make dal tadka, pressure-cook toor dal with turmeric and salt until it mashes smooth, temper onion, tomato and spices in ghee and simmer the dal in it, then pour a second tempering of hot ghee, cumin, dried red chilli, garlic and hing over the bowl just before serving. For four servings we use 200 g of dal and 20 g of ghee in all.
Below are the quantities, and what a serving carries in calories and saturated fat. For the general rule on when ghee goes in early and when late, see our guide to using ghee for tadka and daily cooking.
At a glance
- USDA FoodData Central lists raw pigeon peas, the bean behind toor dal, at 343 kcal per 100 g, and ghee at 900 kcal and 60 g of saturated fat per 100 g.
- On those figures our four-serving batch, 200 g of dal and 20 g of ghee, comes to 866 kcal, about 217 kcal a serving before onion and tomato.
- Each serving carries 5 g of ghee, which is 3 g of saturated fat on USDA's figure.
- ICMR-NIN's 2024 guidelines say to limit ghee or butter to 1 to 2 teaspoons a day, with a teaspoon at 5 g.
- A 2024 review in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine gives ghee's smoke point as about 250°C, above most other edible oils.
What is toor dal, and can you mix in moong?
Toor dal is the split, dehusked seed of the pigeon pea, Cajanus cajan. Wikipedia's entry on the pigeon pea says it is known in India as arhar or tur, and that the split product is "known as toor dal in Hindi".
FSSAI's draft pulses standard of 14 December 2017 lists "Red gram (Arhar) – Cajanus cajan" among the pulses it covers, and says the standard "applies to the whole or shelled or split pulses". We found the draft on FSSAI's site but not the final text.
Our mix, when we use one, is three parts toor to one part moong by weight: in our kitchen the moong breaks down faster and gives a smoother mash. The table below assumes all toor.
How much water does toor dal need, and how soft should it be?
We cook 200 g of toor dal in 600 ml of water, three times its weight, with turmeric and salt, and keep another 200 ml of hot water to loosen it. It is done when a grain crushes to paste between two fingers with no chalky centre.
That ratio is our kitchen's, not a standard; an open pot needs longer and more water. Weigh the dal rather than scooping: USDA FoodData Central puts a cup of raw pigeon peas at 205 g, and split dal packs differently from whole seeds.
Whisk it smooth, with a few soft grains left. It thickens as it cools, so leave it looser than you want it in the bowl.
Why does dal tadka get two temperings of ghee?
Because they do different jobs. The first, in the pot, cooks onion, tomato and spices into a base the dal simmers in. The second, poured hot over the dal at the table, is for aroma: whole spices fried seconds earlier, in fat that has not been simmered away.
Wikipedia's entry on dal describes the fried garnish going on "at the end of the cooking process" and says it goes by many names, "including chaunk, tadka/tarka, bagar, fodni, and phoran". Its version uses oil; the two-stage ghee version is ours. Ghee tadka khichdi uses the same finishing tempering on a looser rice-and-dal base.
To taste the ghee more, move some from the first tempering to the second rather than adding more overall.
What order do cumin, chilli, garlic and hing go into the ghee?
Cumin first, then dried red chilli, then sliced garlic, then hing last, each going in when the one before has done its work. The order runs from what takes heat longest to what burns fastest, so everything finishes together.
- Cumin should sizzle at once. If it sits silent, the ghee is not hot enough.
- Dried red chilli follows when the cumin darkens a shade; black chilli is bitter.
- Garlic, sliced thin, comes out pale gold; past golden it turns bitter.
- Hing, a pinch, goes in last with the pan off the heat, for a moment only.
Why must the ghee be hot but not smoking?
Because cumin needs hot fat to sizzle, but smoking ghee is hotter than a tadka needs, and in our kitchen it burns the garlic and chilli before they colour. A 2024 review gives ghee's smoke point as about 250°C. You do not need a thermometer: a cumin seed sizzles well before the ghee smokes.
The review, in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, describes ghee as having a "high smoke point (∼250 °C) compared to most other edible oils"; our article on ghee's smoke point and cooking looks at that figure's limits. If you see smoke, take the pan off the heat and let it settle. If the ghee smells acrid, start again: a burnt tadka spoils the pot.
How do you make dal tadka for four, step by step?
Cook the dal to a mash, simmer it in a first tempering of onion, tomato and spices, and pour a second tempering of whole spices in hot ghee over it just before serving. Quantities are our everyday batch; the richer one uses 15 g of ghee in each tempering.
- Cook the dal. Rinse 200 g of toor dal. Pressure-cook it with 600 ml of water, half a teaspoon of turmeric and salt until soft, then whisk to a smooth mash.
- First tempering. Heat 10 g of ghee in a pan. Add half a teaspoon of cumin, then one chopped onion, and cook until golden. Add a chopped tomato, a little grated ginger and a slit green chilli, and cook until the tomato collapses.
- Simmer. Tip the mashed dal into the pan, loosen with up to 200 ml of hot water, and simmer for five minutes.
- Smoke it, if you like. The dhungar step, below, goes here.
- Serve the dal. Ladle it into four bowls or one serving dish, with chopped coriander on top.
- Second tempering. Heat 10 g of ghee in a small tadka pan until a cumin seed sizzles. Add half a teaspoon of cumin, two dried red chillies, three sliced garlic cloves and then a pinch of hing, in that order.
- Pour. Pour the sizzling ghee and spices over the dal at the table and stir in as you eat.
What is the dhungar smoke step?
Dhungar is a kitchen practice, not a technique we found studied: live charcoal is set in a small steel bowl on top of the dal, ghee goes onto it, and the lid goes on for a minute or two so the smoke flavours the dal. It is optional.
Our way: hold a small lump of charcoal over a gas flame with tongs until it glows, set it in a steel katori on the dal, pour half a teaspoon of ghee over it and cover at once. Lift the lid near an open window and remove the coal. The table leaves that half teaspoon out.
How much ghee, how many calories and how much saturated fat is in a serving?
About 217 kcal and 3.2 g of saturated fat a serving in our everyday batch, and about 239 kcal and 4.7 g in our richer one, counting only the dal and the ghee, from USDA FoodData Central's SR Legacy records.
Per 100 g, USDA lists pigeon peas (red gram), mature seeds, raw at 343 kcal and 0.33 g of saturated fat, and clarified butter (ghee) at 900 kcal and 60 g of saturated fat. The whole pigeon pea record stands in for split toor dal.
| Per batch, four servings | Everyday | Richer |
|---|---|---|
| Toor dal, raw | 200 g | 200 g |
| Water | 600 ml to cook, up to 200 ml to loosen | 600 ml to cook, up to 200 ml to loosen |
| Ghee (first + second tempering) | 10 + 10 = 20 g | 15 + 15 = 30 g |
| Ghee per serving | 20 ÷ 4 = 5 g (1 teaspoon at 5 g) | 30 ÷ 4 = 7.5 g (1.5 teaspoons) |
| Calories from dal (343 kcal per 100 g) | 200 × 3.43 = 686 kcal | 686 kcal |
| Calories from ghee (900 kcal per 100 g) | 20 × 9.00 = 180 kcal | 30 × 9.00 = 270 kcal |
| Calories per serving | (686 + 180) ÷ 4 = 216.5, about 217 kcal | (686 + 270) ÷ 4 = 239 kcal |
| Saturated fat from ghee per serving (60 g per 100 g) | 5 × 0.6 = 3 g | 7.5 × 0.6 = 4.5 g |
| Saturated fat from dal per serving (0.33 g per 100 g) | 200 × 0.0033 ÷ 4 = 0.165 g | 0.165 g |
| Saturated fat per serving | 3 + 0.165 = 3.165, about 3.2 g | 4.5 + 0.165 = 4.665, about 4.7 g |
How does a bowl fit ICMR-NIN's 2024 visible-fat lines?
Within the ghee limit, one bowl at a time. The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) say: "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible." On their household measure of "Teaspoon 5g", that is 5 to 10 g. Our everyday serving carries 5 g, the richer one 7.5 g.
On visible fat as a whole, the guidelines say it "must be limited to 20–50g (4–10 teaspoon full) per person/ day depending on the level of energy (calorie) requirement", and that "not more than 27–30g visible fat/cooking oil is required for a 2000 Kcal diet/day". On saturated fat: "Use of SF is considered high when more than 10g/day of visible saturated fats (for a 2000 Kcal diet/ day) is consumed in the form of ghee, butter". The ghee in our everyday serving carries 3 g of that, the richer one 4.5 g.
Those are daily totals, and the rest of the day's cooking counts. If a doctor or dietitian has set your fat intake, follow their advice. We use Himdhara's A2 bilona ghee for the second tempering, where the ghee is tasted rather than cooked away.
The short version
Dal tadka is toor dal cooked to a mash, simmered in a first tempering of onion and tomato, and finished with cumin, dried chilli, garlic and hing in hot ghee poured over at the table. Heat the ghee until a cumin seed sizzles, not until it smokes. Our four-serving batch uses 200 g of dal and 20 g of ghee: on USDA figures, about 217 kcal and 3.2 g of saturated fat a serving, within ICMR-NIN's 1 to 2 teaspoons of ghee a day.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Pigeon peas (red gram), mature seeds, raw. FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter, Clarified butter (ghee). FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad.
- Kataria D, Singh G (2024). Health benefits of ghee: Review of Ayurveda and modern science perspectives. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2017). Draft Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2017. FSSAI, New Delhi.