Alu Diye Cholar Dal | Bengali-Style Lentils with Potatoes

square image of alu diye cholar dal overhead shot

5 from 2 votes

Alu Diye Cholar Dal | Bengali-Style Lentils with Potatoes

Bengali-style lentils with potato, popularly known as alu diye cholar dal. This mild and delicious dal with Indian split chickpeas and potatoes topped with toasted coconut is perfect with poori or rice!

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Pressure building/releasing time20

Total Time50

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Bengali

Keyword: alu diye cholar dal, bengali potato dal

Servings:

Calories: 327kcal

Author: Srividhya G

Equipment

Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

Measurement Details: 1 cup = 240ml; 1 tbsp = 15ml; 1 tsp = 5ml;

1 tbsp ghee
1 bay leaf
1 tsp panch phoron
1 cinnamon
1 cardamom
1 green chili
2 dried chili
1 inch ginger grated
¼ cup coconut pieces
1 cup chana dal soaked for 1 hr
1 tbsp mustard oil
2 potatoes 150 grams
1.5 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp turmeric

Instructions

Rinse the chana dal thoroughly and soak the dal with sufficient water( 2 to 3 cups approx.) for 1 hr.
Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and add the ghee. When the display shows "HOT," add the coconut pieces and roast them until it turns light brown.
Remove them from the pot and set them aside.
Add the panch phoron, cardamom, clove, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, dried red chilies, and slit green chili in the same pot. Fry the whole spices for about a minute.
Drain the water from the dal, and add it to the Instant Pot. Add the water, grated ginger, and turmeric powder.
Mix well. Press cancel and close the Instant pot. Pressure cook at manual/pressure cook mode for 8 minutes and release the pressure naturally.
When the dal is cooking, parallelly you can roast the potatoes. Heat a pan or kadai and add the mustard oil. Ensure it comes to the smoking point, then add the potatoes.
Fry them over medium-low heat until the potatoes turn light brown on the edges like below. Keep stirring the potatoes as you fry for even cooking. It took me approx. 7 minutes.
Open the Instant Pot and mix well when the pressure is gone. The dal should be completely cooked, but still, it should hold the shape.
Add the salt and sugar and mix well. Mash a little amount of dal and add the potatoes.
Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and partially cover it IP lid or any other glass lid, and let the dal simmer for 5 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and tender.
Turn off the Instant Pot and add the fried coconut pieces. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with rice or dal puri, or regular poori.

Notes

You can soak the dal for up to 2 hours but don't soak it for more than two hours. Also, do not overcook the dal. We need a soft yet firm dal that holds its shape.
Adjust the salt and spices to taste.
You can add ¼ to ½ of garam masala. The traditional recipe calls for the Bengali garam masala / garam moshla, and I didn't add any. Even without garam masala, it tastes amazing.

Nutrition