Masoor Dal
Also known as: red lentil, split red lentil
What Masoor Dal is
The everyday red dal: split, skinned lentils that collapse into a soft purée faster than any other common dal, which makes it the one to reach for on a weeknight. Its flavour is quiet, its colour vivid, and it takes to onion-and-tomato tempering the way few other dals do.
Lentils (Lens culinaris), split in half and washed free of the brown seed coat, which leaves a flat, salmon-orange grain. It is one of the oldest cultivated crops and the most traded pulse in the world; much of what is sold in Japan was grown in Canada or Turkey, split and packed under Indian brand names.
Taste and texture
Mildly earthy and faintly sweet, with none of the musk of urad. Cooked, it moves quickly from just-soft to a thick, spoonable purée — in most masoor dishes the dal is the body of the pot rather than a grain you taste.
Forms to buy
- Split, skinless (standard) — The everyday form; cooks in 15–20 minutes without soaking.
- Whole brown (sabut masoor) — Skin-on whole lentils that hold their shape; used in restaurant-style dals and salads.
How to cook it
Rinse and skim off any floating grains. Pressure-cook 1 cup with 2½ cups water for 2–3 whistles, or simmer 15–20 minutes, skimming the grey foam that rises. Salt after cooking. The classic finish is onion browned well in oil with cumin and tomato, stirred through at the end with a little turmeric. Masoor also blends perfectly smooth, so it thickens shorba-style soups without any flour.
Buying note
The cheapest dal on the shelf, typically ¥400–¥600 per kilogram. Fresh split masoor is bright orange-red and dulls to brick-brown with age; old stock also foams more and tastes flat. Bags move fast at most grocers, so it is one ingredient worth buying wherever the price is best.