Step 1

Start by washing and then soaking the urad dal overnight. If you forgot to soak overnight, then I recommend soaking for at least 4 hours. Once soaked, drain the water and rinse the dal and keep it ready.

Step 2

To a stovetop pressure cooker on medium heat, add ghee (or oil). Once the ghee is hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Then add the chopped onion and green chili and sauté for 2 minutes until the onions are soft and translucent.

Step 3

Then add the ginger garlic paste and cook 1 more minute. Now, add the tomato puree and cook 2 minutes. Add the spices like coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder along with salt. Cook the spices for 30 seconds.

Step 4

Now add the soaked and drained dal to the pressure cooker. Stir to combine the dal with the masala. Now add water (around 3 cups) and mix. Close the lid and pressure cook on medium high heat for 10 whistles, then lower the heat to low-medium and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. In total the dal pressure cooks for around 20 to 25 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.

Step 5

Open the lid once the pressure has released and add garam masala and chopped cilantro. Turn on the heat to low-medium and let the dal simmer for 5 minutes. Crush some of the dal with the back of a spatula as it is simmering, this helps in making the dal creamier. Add salt and water as needed at this point.

Step 6

Serve maa ki dal hot with basmati rice. You may top if with 1/2 tablespoon butter before serving.

Step 7

For the Instant Pot, everything remains the same (including soaking the dal) except add 2 & 1/2 cups water, make sure to deglaze the pot so there's nothing stuck at the bottom of the pot before pressure cooking and then pressure cook for 40 minutes on high pressure with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.40 minutes might seem a lot of time to pressure cook but it is needed if you are looking for that authentic melt-in-mouth consistency of maa ki dal. If you don't care about that consistency then you can pressure cook it for a lesser amount of time. And don't forget to simmer it on sauté mode for 5 minutes after it is pressure cooked. That helps bring all the flavors together.