Indian style Red Lentil Soup (Bombay Dal Soup) (2024)

Published: Oct 25, 2017 · Modified: Dec 12, 2019 by Pavani · 10 Comments

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Indian style Red Lentil Soup that is hearty and delicious with the addition of warm Indian spices.

Today's lentil based dish is a hearty and nutritious Indian style Red Lentil soup -- it is nothing but our everyday dal 🙂 The first time I heard about lentil soup, I thought it was a very complicated dish until I realized it's nothing but our very own masoor dal with tomato. My son loves this 'soup', so I keep making it for him once in a while.

This soup recipe is adapted from Tarla Dalal's Bombay Curry soup recipe. I added more spices because I wanted to add that Indian flavor to the soup. Also I like some crunch and texture in my soup, so I added a tempering with crunchy chana & urad dal. To add some color and a reason to eat more veggies, I sauteed some baby spinach for the topping.The original Bombay soup is served with some rice on top. So along with my crunchy dal and spinach topping, I added some rice to the soup too. This dish takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish -- making it perfect for a weeknight dinner. Serve it with some bread on the side instead of rice and you have a comforting and filling meal.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 81.

Indian style Red Lentil Soup

Indian style Red Lentil Soup that is hearty and delicious with the addition of warm Indian spices. Perfect dish for the chilly fall weather.

Author: Pavani

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Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 25 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish, soups stews

Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For the Soup:

1 tbsp Oil
1 cup Red Lentils (Masoor Dal)
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
2 Medium Tomatoes, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp Ground Cumin
½ tsp Ground Coriander
To taste Salt Pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice

For the Topping:

2 tsp Oil
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
½ tsp Crushed Pepper Flakes (optional)
2~3 cups Baby Spinach
To taste salt

Instructions

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker. Add onions and garlic and cook till the onions turn translucent.
Next add the tomatoes, chili powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, salt and pepper. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy.
Add lentils and 21/2~3cups of water. Close the lid and cook for 2~3 whistles. Let the pressure come down naturally.
Open the lid and whisk the lentils until smooth. If the soup looks too thick, add some water and simmer until heated through.
Taste and adjust the seasoning. Stir in the lemon juice.

Make the Topping:

Heat oil in a small pan, add the chana dal, urad dal and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook till the dal turns golden. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 3~4 minutes.
Serve the soup warm topped with the spinach and Enjoy!!

Tried this recipe?Mention @cooks_hideout or tag #cookshideout!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Vaishali
October 26, 2017 at 2:53 am

Very interesting way to serve the regular daal . The spinach and rice give a fine colour to the soup , the Chana and urad dal sound excellent for the crunch . Awesome pick .
Reply
See Also
Indian Spiced Lentil Soup (Dal Soup)
Mayuri Patel
October 26, 2017 at 3:32 pm

An interesting way to serve masoor dal. I like how just a little bit of rice and spinach are added to make it into a filling and wholesome meal.
Reply
Priya Suresh
October 27, 2017 at 1:06 pm

Excellent dal coup and love how you have presented this soup with rice and spinach on it, comforting soup definitely.
Reply
Sandhya Ramakrishnan
October 30, 2017 at 7:30 pm

I personally live the flavor of masoor dal and use it very often. Love the Indian flavored dal/soup. I like adding a layer of flavor by using the spinach as a topping.
Reply
Harini
November 02, 2017 at 9:13 pm

Love the soup and the spinach layer on top is a brilliant variation to the regular soups.
Reply
Veena
November 05, 2017 at 11:27 am

I make masoor dal soup in a slightly different way and I didn't know it had this name. Beautifully shot
Reply
Lisa Morgan
June 29, 2020 at 3:48 pm

Hi Pavani,
Thanks for this recipe. I have an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot). Do you have any idea how many minutes under high pressure would equal 2-3 whistles in a stovetop cooker? If not, no worries--I can estimate based on other IP recipes for red lentil soups.
Looking forward to trying this.
Best,
Lisa
Reply
- cookshideout
  June 29, 2020 at 5:19 pm
  
  Hi Lisa, I make this recipe for 6 minutes in Instant Pot and it comes out perfect. Thank you for your comment - reminded me to update the post with IP instructions. Hope you enjoy the soup.
  Reply
  - Lisa
    July 09, 2020 at 3:04 pm
    
    Thanks--6 mins. in the IP was perfect for me, too. And I really liked the crunch of the toasted chana dal on top of the soup. I felt hesitant to try it, but I found out it's great. 🙂 If I can get a good photo, I'll put it on IG.
    Reply
    - cookshideout
      July 10, 2020 at 6:57 pm
      
      Hi Lisa, so glad you liked the recipe. Thank you so much for letting me know. I look forward to your IG post.
      Reply

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