Butternut Squash Dal
Nov 11, 2016, Updated Mar 15, 2024
Vegan & gluten-free Butternut Squash Dal. Lentils cooked with onion, tomatoes, butternut squash and lightly tempered with cumin and mustard seeds.
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And another easy recipe for a vegetarian Thanksgiving to end the week! This Butternut Squash Dal combines lentils with onion, tomato and is lightly tempered with mustard, cumin and curry leaves. Serve it with naan or rice! Vegan and gluten-free.
I have noticed that you guys really like dal recipes on the blog, like this Spinach Dal is quite popular on Pinterest. And so I thought I should share some more dal recipe here and since Thanksgiving is so close, it only made sense to share this Butternut Squash Dal. Honestly speaking, my list of dal recipes is pretty long. I mean I am an Indian, who grew up eating dal 365 days in the year (no exceptions!!) so of course I make them all the time. I will definitely share more in the coming months.
So for this butternut squash dal, I combined two lentils – chana dal and toor/arhar dal. Chana dal is little on the heavier side and it wasn’t made very often at my home but toor dal – that was everyday. Urgh, I never used to like it. Why would any kid like something which is served everyday for lunch? Until and unless it’s a cake of course! Anyway so for this butternut squash dal I used both and it really worked very well in the recipe. You can obviously use only chana or only toor depending on what you have in your pantry.
I don’t really add a lot of spices in my dal recipes because that way you really get the dal flavor and you don’t want spice overpowering that. So here it’s just little tempering with cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ginger and curry leaves. I pressure cooked the butternut squash along with the dal and the squash almost dissolved into the dal. In fact that way the squash flavor was so much more pronounced. If you want to bite into the squash pieces, you may pressure cook them for a lesser amount of time or you can also roast them. The squash gave a little sweet flavor to the dal which I really enjoyed. As you can see from the pictures, I kept the consistency on thicker side, you can adjust this as per your preference.
This butternut squash dal is easy to put together, is healthy, delicious and perfect for the season. I hope you guys give this a try!
Method
* Soak the chana and toor dal for 20-30 minutes. Drain water and set aside.
To a pressure cook add the soaked dal with water, turmeric powder, salt, chopped ginger and butternut squash.
Pressure cook till dal is nicely cooked and squash is completely softened. I cooked on high heat for 4 whistles and then set the heat to low and cook for additional 5-6 minutes. Let the pressure come off on it’s own and then set the dal aside.
In a pan or work, heat oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and let them crackle.
Once the seds pop, add chopped onion, green chili and curry leaves. Saute for 2 minutes or till onion becomes slightly translucent.
Add chopped garlic and saute for a minute or two.
Now add chopped tomatoes and mix. Also add salt.
Cook the tomatoes for 5 minutes or till they soften up.
Now transfer the cooked dal to pan , add water and mix everything. Adjust salt at this point. Lower the heat and let the dal simmer for 5 minutes.
Add cilantro and lemon juice (if using) and serve immediately.
You can serve this butternut squash dal with rice or any bread of your choice. I served mine with some pulao.
* You can use ghee or butter in place of oil for the tadka/tempering. Stick to the oil to keep it vegan, the dal tastes great anyway!
* The prep time includes the soaking time of the chana and toor dal.
* Add more water for a thin consistency dal.
Butternut Squash Dal
Ingredients
To pressure cook
- ½ cup toor dal soaked for 30 minutes, also known as split pigeon peas lentil
- ¼ cup chana dal soaked for 30 minutes, also known as split garbanzo beans
- 2 & ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 & ¼ teaspoons finely chopped ginger
- 2 & ½ cups butternut squash cubes from one small squash of around 800 grams
Tempering/tadka
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 green chili chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 5-6 curry leaves
- 1 medium red onion chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice optional
- 1-2 cups water
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the chana and toor dal for 20-30 minutes. Drain water and set aside.
- To a pressure cook add the soaked dal with water, turmeric powder, salt, chopped ginger and butternut squash.
- Pressure cook till dal is nicely cooked and squash is completely softened. I cooked on high heat for 4 whistles and then set the heat to low and cook for additional 5-6 minutes. Let the pressure come off on it’s own and then set the dal aside.
- In a pan or work, heat oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and let them crackle.
- Once the seds pop, add chopped onion, green chili and curry leaves. Saute for 2 minutes or till onion becomes slightly translucent.
- Add chopped garlic and saute for a minute or two.
- Now add chopped tomatoes and mix. Also add salt.
- Cook the tomatoes for 5 minutes or till they soften up.
- Now transfer the cooked dal to pan , add water and mix everything. Adjust salt at this point. Lower the heat and let the dal simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add cilantro and lemon juice (if using) and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Butternut Squash Dal
