It's so easy to cook a comforting meal of Rice and Dal together at the same time using the pot-in-pot method in your Instant Pot! Vegan and gluten-free.
2.5cupswater20 oz, use 3 cups if you prefer softer rice
1teaspoonoil5 ml, optional but recommended
For the Dal
1tablespoonoil15 ml, use oil of choice
3/4teaspooncumin seeds
1smallred onionchopped
4-5largegarlic cloves
1green chilichopped
1mediumtomatochopped
1/2cuptoor dal50 grams, split pigeon pea lentil
1/2cupyellow moong dal dhuli50 grams, split moong bean lentil
3cupswater24 oz, or more as needed
1/2teaspoonturmeric powder
3/4teaspoonsaltor to taste
2cupsbaby spinachoptional
small lemonjuice of
Instructions
Rinse rice until water turns clear and then drain the water. Place the rinsed and drained rice in a steel container.
Add water and oil to it and give a quick stir. You may also add pinch of salt if you like. Set this aside and start making the dal in the main pot.
Press saute button on the instant pot and once it displays hot, add oil and then add cumin seeds to the steel pot. Let the seeds sizzle for few seconds.
And then add chopped onion, garlic and green chili. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the onions soften a bit.
Then add in the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute.
Add the rinsed dal to the pot along with water, turmeric powder and salt. Give it a good stir.
Now, place a long leg trivet inside the pot and then place the rice container on top of the trivet. I cover the container with a lid or aluminium foil but you may leave it uncovered too.
Close the pot with its lid and press the pressure cook or manual button. Cook on high pressure for 9 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.
Once the pressure has released naturally, open the lid and carefully remove the lid from the rice container. Remove the rice container from the pot carefully using a pair of tongs.
Give the dal a stir. I also added extra 1/2 cup water here as the dal was too thick for my liking. If using spinach, press the saute button now and add the spinach leaves. Let the dal simmer on saute for 2 to 3 minutes until the leaves wilt.
Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice and enjoy hot rice and dal!
Notes
You can use ghee in place of oil in the dal to give it extra flavor.
You can do any tadka (tempering) of choice in the dal like use mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, dried red chilies etc.
The dal recipe used a combination of toor dal and moong dal. You can use 100% toor dal too. If using 100% moong dal reduce the cook time to 6 minutes.