This rich and creamy Kerala dal is a simple and delicious recipe made with lentils cooked in flavorful spiced coconut milk. This instant pot Kerala parippu curry is basically a pour and cook recipe that takes very little effort to make.
I want to call this recipe “the easiest dal recipe ever” because that’s honestly what it is. This is pretty much a dump and cook recipe that calls for only a handful of ingredients. This is the dal that I make when I don’t have time to do any prep work – or when I have nothing planned for dinner. It has saved us from ordering takeout on many occasions (to my fast-food/pizza lovin’ husband’s dismay, lol).
This rich and creamy Kerala-style parippu (another word for “dal”) is a must during special occasions or festivals. It is one of the main dishes served during Onam, a harvest festival celebrated by people of all religions in the state of Kerala. This dal (along with avial) is always served as part of the sadya, a vegetarian feast typically served on a banana leaf. You can make this dal any time though of course. It’s such an easy dal recipe that we eat it all the time.
If you’ve never had Kerala dal before, this is what you can expect: a rich and creamy and coconutty dal made with lentils that melt right into the soup.
Traditionally, this dal is made with a freshly ground coconut paste but my version calls for full-fat coconut milk. Using coconut milk makes this dish even easier to make. I’ve tried the dal with the coconut paste too but I honestly prefer the ease and smoothness that comes from rich full-fat coconut milk. You can use either toor dal or yellow moong dal to make this recipe. Try both and tell me which you prefer!
If you’re wondering what to serve this dal with, try it with some rice, thoran or avial.
Make sure to serve this dal with a spoonful of ghee! Eat it with plain basmati rice, coconut rice or matta rice.
Instant Pot Kerala Parippu Curry (Lentils in Coconut Curry)
Yield: 3–4 1x
Cuisine: Indian
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This rich and creamy Kerala-style parippu (another word for “dal”) is one of the main dishes served during Onam, a harvest festival celebrated by people of all religions in the state of Kerala. It’s a simple and flavorful recipe made with coconut milk. Serve this dal with ghee drizzled on top!
Ingredients
- 1 cup split pigeon peas (toor dal) OR small yellow lentils (moong dal), soaked for 1–2 hours
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 30 curry leaves
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 (13.5 ounce) can of full-fat coconut milk
- ½ – 1 Serrano pepper or green chili, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- Ghee, for serving
Instructions
- Soak the split pigeon peas (toor dal) in cold water for 2 hours. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Press the sauté button, add the coconut oil to the pot. Once the coconut oil melts, add mustard seeds and curry leaves to the pot. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the remaining ingredients to the pot.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure.
- Drizzle ghee on top prior to serving if desired.
Notes
- You can make this recipe with either toor dal or moong dal – they have slightly different flavors but are both delicious!
- This dal will thicken the longer it sits so feel free to stir in a bit more water at the end if needed.
Very quick and delicious! I made this with avial and both turned out wonderful! Thank you! On a side note— do you have an idili recipe? If it’s it one of your books which one?
★★★★★
Chris, I’m so happy to hear that you liked this dal and the avial! I do have an idli recipe in my Indian Food Under Pressure cookbook 🙂
The recipe says 30 (thirty) curry leaves. Is this correct?
Yes but a few more/less won’t hurt – I just like a lot in this dal 🙂
Simple & delicious. Best daal I’ve had. A bit runny but I soaked Toor daal overnight so it may have absorbed more water?
★★★★★
Sam, I’m so happy to hear that you liked it! Yes it likely absorbed water if you left it overnight – toor dal doesn’t need to be soaked for that long. But no worries – the leftovers will thicken up! I typically have to add more water the next day to thin it out – you may not need to 🙂
So easy and tastes fantastic. It’s pretty much a dump and go recipe. Love it!
★★★★★
Raghavi, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
I tried this and love the taste. But it ended up being too thick in the end, i had to add more water and stir to bring it to reasonable consistency. Any advice on how to deal with this or what went wrong? But I love it, so easy to make and comforting taste.
★★★★★
never mind! i read the comments after writing this. You address this issue.
Hi Hulya! What you did is perfect – dal thickens as it sits especially toor dal so just add water at the end to get it to the consistency you prefer! You’ll definitely need to do this if you eat it the next day as well.
Made this tonight. Sooo good! And quick and easy. This will definitely become a staple in our house.
★★★★★
Ginger, that’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
I made this dal last night using red hot chili because I didn’t have any green ones. I love any dal but this one is out of this world delicious, best I ever had and simplest to make! I woke up craving the leftovers. Thank you, Ashley! And red chili made it look kind of festive:)
P.S. When I first open the pot, I thought I messed up the ratio when I doubled the recipe because it appeared a lot thinner than I expected. But it thickened up within minutes , absolutely perfect!
★★★★★
Zhenya, I’m so happy to hear that you liked this dal so much!! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
I find Mung dal cooks faster than Toor dal – do you still recommend a 10 minute cook time for Mung dal? I have never liked a mushy dal…thank you!
This is amazing. I followed the recipe exactly and I cannot believe how buttery it tastes with no butter–must be the moong dal. More Kerala recipes please!
★★★★★
Sara, I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 And yes, will definitely be sharing more Keralite dishes on the blog 🙂
This recipe is fantastic. The second time I’ve made it.
★★★★★
Really happy to hear that 🙂