The Butternut Squash Dal is a comforting and easy dal recipe made with toor dal (split pigeon peas), butternut squash, tomatoes, and a few Indian spices, all cooked together with pot-in-pot rice in an Instant Pot pressure cooker. This butternut squash lentil curry is vegan, gluten-free.
Rice and dal are our go-to comfort foods for busy weeknights! Today, I am sharing a twist on the traditional dal tadka by adding the seasonal vegetable butternut squash to make it nutrient-dense. Similarly, I love making variations of dal with vegetables like zucchini dal, raw mango dal, and ridge gourd dal.
Butternut Squash (aka Butternut Pumpkin), is a type of winter squash that tastes sweet, juicy, rich, and somewhat like pumpkin or sweet potatoes. They can be roasted, grilled, pureed, mashed, or pressure-cooked. It is a good source of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other vital nutrients, low in calories, and has lower carbs than sweet potatoes.
I have prepared this dish in my electric pressure cooker, Instant Pot DUO60 6 QT, and it can be made in under 30 minutes.
If you are looking for more Indian butternut squash recipes, then check out
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Ingredients for Indian Butternut Squash Dal
- Butternut Squash: Choose butternut squash that has a nice beige-ish color, is firm, feels heavy for its size, and has no deep cuts or bruises. If you're short on time, you can use peeled and pre-cut squash available in grocery stores or opt for frozen cubed squash.
- Split toor dal: I used toor dal (yellow split pigeon peas) in this recipe. However, you can substitute it with yellow lentils (moong dal) or red lentils (masoor dal). You can also use a combination of toor, masoor, and moong dal for a unique flavor and texture.
- Oil (or ghee): I used oil in this recipe, but I always prefer to use homemade ghee for tempering, as it gives the dal a divine taste. You can also use a combination of ghee and oil for this squash dal tadka recipe.
- Cumin seeds (jeera): They are a must in any Indian dal tempering, so do not skip them.
- Ginger and garlic: I have minced fresh ginger and garlic for this recipe. You can also use homemade ginger paste and garlic paste. You can skip garlic for no garlic variation.
- Veggies: Onion and tomato.
- Spices: I have used turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, and garam masala.
- Water: The lentil-to-water ratio for cooking dal is typically 1 cup of dal to 3 cups of water.
How to Make Butternut Squash Dal in Instant Pot
Firstly, rinse and soak 1 cup of toor dal for at least 15 minutes in hot water.
Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Heat 1 tablespoon oil (or ghee), and add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds. Let them crackle.
Then add 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste, 1 pinch of asafetida, 1 green chili (chopped), 1 small onion (finely chopped). Saute till onions turn light brown.
Add 1 large tomato (finely chopped) along with the dry spices: ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder, and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the tomatoes turn soft.
Next, add 2-3 cups diced butternut squash (1.5-inch pieces), 1 cup of rinsed and soaked toor dal, salt, and 3 cups of water. Stir well and adjust the spices at this stage if needed.
After adding all the ingredients to the Instant Pot, place the trivet on top and then place the bowl of (1 cup of basmati rice with 1.5 cups of water) on the trivet for the pot-in-pot cooking instant pot. This way, both the dal and rice will cook together.
Close the Instant Pot with the pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes. If you don't have time to soak the dal, then increase the timer to 8 minutes high pressure.
Once the pot beeps, let it release the pressure naturally (NPR) for 10 minutes.
Lastly, add 2 tablespoons coriander leaves and juice of half lime, and mix well. Serve butternut squash dal hot with boiled rice, quinoa, or roti.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method
Follow the steps according to the Instant Pot instructions. If using a traditional pressure cooker, cook until you hear 2-3 whistles on medium flame, and then let the pressure release naturally. All the other steps remain the same.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Butternut Squash Dal with basmati rice, jeera rice, brown basamti rice, or quinoa with kachumber salad and pickles on the side.
You can also pair it with Indian flat bread like roti, or paratha along with some vegetable side dishes like
Storage Suggestions
- Refrigerate: Store the leftover butternut squash dal in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
- Freeze: You can store the dal fry in a freezer-safe airtight container for up to 2-3 months in the freezer.
- Reheat: Reheat the squash dal on the stove or in the microwave oven. The dal will thicken on standing, so thin it out with some water. If frozen, Defrost for a few hours on the kitchen counter before reheating.
Tips & Variations
- Size of Butternut squash: The size of the butternut squash pieces is crucial; aim to dice them into 1.5-2 inch pieces. This will help ensure that the squash remains firm and doesn't become mushy or dissolve into the dal.
- Type of Lentils/Dal: I used toor dal for this butter squash recipe, but you can use any kind of dal/lentils like red lentils (masoor dal), chana dal, split yellow moong dal, or a mixture of toor, masoor, and moong dal.
- Soaking Lentils: Don’t skip soaking the toor dal for at least 15-20 minutes. Toor dal takes longer to cook than butternut squash, so soaking helps soften the lentils and reduces cooking time, ensuring the butternut squash remains firm and doesn’t turn mushy.
- Other Veggies: You can also add bottle gourd, zucchini, or pumpkin to this dal.
- No Onion-No Garlic: To make a simple no onion-no garlic dal, you can also skip onion and garlic.
More Instant Pot Indian Lentil and Beans Recipes
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Dal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas)
- 2-3 cups butternut squash peeled and diced in to 1.5 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon ghee (or oil)
- 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds
- a pinch asafetida (hing)
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 large tomato finely chopped
- salt adjust to taste
- 3 cups water
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped
- juice of ½ lemon
Dry Spices:
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- ½-1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
For Basmati Rice
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1.5 cups water
- a pinch salt (optional)
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Firstly, soak toor dal (split pigeon peas) for 15 minutes in hot water.
- Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil and once it’s hot add cumin seeds. Let them crackle.
- Then add ginger garlic paste, asafetida, green chili, chopped onion. Saute till onions turn light brown in color.
- Add tomatoes along with dry spices turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, and cook till tomatoes turn soft, which takes 2-3 minutes.
- Then add diced butternut squash, rinsed & soaked lentils or dal, salt, water and give a stir. Adjust spices at this stage.
- Once you add all ingredients for Butternut squash Dal in the instant pot, place the trivet and then the bowl of rice with water. This way they will both cook together.
- Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes. If you don't have time to soak the dal, then increase the timer to 8 min high pressure.
- Once the pot beeps, let it release the pressure naturally (NPR) for 10 minutes.
- Lastly, add cilantro and lime juice, mix well. Serve instant pot lentil butternut squash curry hot with boiled rice, quinoa, or roti.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker:
- Follow the steps from the instant pot instructions. Give 2-3 whistles on medium flame and let the pressure release naturally. All the other steps remain the same.
Notes
Tips & Variations for Butternut Squash Dal
- Size of Butternut squash: The size of the pieces of butternut squash is very important, try to dice each piece of 1.5-2 inches so that the squash won't get mushy and dissolve in the dal.
- Type of Lentils/Dal: Today, I have used toor dal (split pigeon peas) for this butter squash recipe, but you can use any kind of dal/lentils like red lentils (masoor dal), chana dal, split yellow moong dal, or a mixture of toor, masoor, and moong dal.
- Soaking Lentils: Don’t skip out on soaking the toor dal for at least 15-20 minutes – toor dal takes a longer time to cook than butternut squash. Soaking softens the lentils and cooks faster, hence butternut squash will not turn mushy.
- Other Veggies: You can also add bottle gourd, zucchini, or pumpkin to this dal.
- No Onion-No Garlic: To make a simple no onion-no garlic dal, you can also skip onion and garlic.
Nutrition
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Wait Up
Very good. The toor dal disintegrated, the butternut didn't and it looked lovely. Unclear what the Extra Tempering (optional) was for, so maybe addressing that in the recipe would be an improvement. Will make again!
Bhavana Patil
Hi, I am glad you liked the recipe. if you dont want the toor dal to be disintegrated you can skip soaking the dal. If you want the dal to be more flavorful, you can add the Extra tempering, Thank you for pointing it out, i will mention in the "how to make" section.
Erin
Just made this and it was so delicious. Never would have thought I could achieve this flavor at home. Thank you 😍 Looking forward to trying more recipes!
Bhavana Patil
Hi Erin, I am so happy to receive this comment, i am so glad you liked the recipe.. Please do comment and share your feedback if you try more recipes from my blog...
Jane
You didn't put the measurements for the dry spices.
Bhavana Patil
Hey Jane, Thanks for highlighting it, I have updated it now.