Instant Pot Butternut Squash Dal
Butternut Squash Dal recipe is a comforting and an easy dal made in Instant Pot pressure cooker with toor dal (split pigeon peas lentils), butternut squash, tomatoes, Indian spices and cooked with pot-in-pot rice.
Servings 6
Calories 259kcal
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 tablespoon 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
I have prepared this dish in my electric pressure cooker, Instant Pot DUO60 6 QT.
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
Calories: 259kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 62mg | Potassium: 300mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 5254IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 2mg