Sultani Dal Recipe
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Sultani dal (also called Lucknowi dal) is a nawabi lentil dish of Mughal origin. Lentil is cooked with rich ingredients, giving it a truly royal feel. Here is how to make it.
Table of Contents
What Is Sultani Dal?
Sultani dal is a creamy lentil dish from the royal Nawabi kitchens of Lucknow. Cooks made it for the Mughal emperors, and the name itself means “fit for a sultan.” Unlike regular dal, this one uses yogurt, milk, fresh cream, and a final smoke from burning charcoal to build layers of flavor.
The base is toor dal, slow-simmered until soft, then finished with a quick tempering of ghee, cumin, and garlic. The result feels velvety, slightly tangy, and deeply aromatic.
If you love rich North Indian dals, you will also enjoy our classic dal makhani recipe and the always-popular dal tadka with restaurant-style tempering.
Ingredients
Ingredients
To Cook The Dal
Toor Dal (Pigeon Pea Lentils) – It makes the base of this dish. You can replace toor dal with yellow moong dal to make it lighter.
Heavy Cream – It gives richness to the dal.
Plain Yogurt (Dahi, Curd) adds a little tang and enhances the creamy texture.
Milk is used to thin out the dal.
Others – You will also need turmeric powder and salt.
For Tadka – This Dal uses a ghee tadka of cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, green chilies, onion, dry red chilies, and red chili powder.
You can adjust the amount of green chilies to taste. Dry red chilies and red chili powder add a subtle heat when added to the tadka.
How To Make Sultani Dal
Rinse the toor dal three times until the water runs clear. Add it to a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water, turmeric, and salt. Cook on medium heat for 4 whistles. Remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
Soaking the dal for 15 minutes cuts cooking time and makes the texture silkier.
Open the cooker and mash the dal lightly with a whisk or ladle.
Add 300 ml of milk, 2 tablespoon of yogurt, and 2 tablespoon of heavy cream, and mix everything well. If the dal looks too thick, add ½ cup of hot water. You want a smooth, flowing consistency.
Place the cooker back on a low flame. Stir for 4 to 5 minutes until the dal turns creamy and silky. Keep the flame low. High heat will split the yogurt.
Temper The Dal
In a small pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee over medium heat.
Once the ghee is hot, add the cumin seeds and let them crackle. Add dried red chilies, ginger, chopped garlic, green chilies, and hing. Fry until the garlic turns golden, not brown.
Add ½ cup chopped onion and 2-3 dried red chilies, and fry over medium-high heat until the onions are slightly browned. Keep stirring at regular intervals.
Turn off the heat and add Kashmiri chili powder and crushed kasuri methi. Pour this hot tadka immediately over the dal. Stir gently. If the heat is not switched off, red chili powder will burn and will give a very bad taste.
Heat a small piece of charcoal directly on the gas flame until it glows red. Place a small steel bowl in the center of the dal. Drop the hot charcoal into the bowl, add a clove, and pour 1 teaspoon of ghee on top. Cover the cooker immediately and let the smoke infuse for 2 minutes. Remove the bowl carefully.
This step gives Sultani Dal its signature smoky aroma. Skip it only if you absolutely cannot get charcoal.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Adding cold yogurt straight to hot dal (it will split)
- Skipping the dhungar step (you lose half the magic)
- Using sour yogurt (the dal turns tangy and unbalanced)
- Over-tempering the garlic (burnt garlic ruins the tadka)
- Cooking dairy on high heat (it curdles within seconds)
Serving Suggestions
Sultani Dal pairs beautifully with:
- Jeera rice or basmati rice
- Butter naan, tandoori roti, or laccha paratha
- A side of kachumber salad (onion, tomato, cucumber)
- Mango pickle and papad
- A glass of cold masala chaas (spiced buttermilk)
For a complete Mughlai thali, pair it with our paneer butter masala or vegetable biryani recipe.
Storage Suggestions
Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat: Warm on low flame with a splash of milk or water. Stir often. Freezer: Not recommended. Yogurt-based dals lose texture when frozen.
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Sultani Dal Recipe
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow pigeon peas (tuvar dal)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 300 mili liter milk
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon plain yogurt
- 3 tablespoon ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
- 2 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 2 teaspoon chopped green chili
- 2-3 whole dry red chilies
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
Instructions
- Wash 1 cup of tuvar dal (yellow pigeon peas lentil) a few times with water until the water runs clear. Add it to a pressure cooker along with salt to taste, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and 2 cups of water.
- Cook the dal on high heat for one whistle and then simmer the heat to low and cook for another 2 whistles.
- Remove the cooker from heat and let the pressure release naturally. Once the pressure is released, open the lid of the cooker and whisk the dal using a wire whisk.
- Add 300 ml milk, 2 tbsp yogurt, and 2 tablespoon heavy cream to the cooker and mix everything well.
- Cook on low heat until it thickens a bit.
- Heat 3 tablespoon ghee in a small pan.
- Once the ghee is hot, add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds. Fry for 20 seconds. Add 1 teaspoon chopped ginger, 2 teaspoon chopped garlic, and 2 teaspoon chopped green chilies and fry for a few seconds.
- Add ½ cup chopped onion and 2-3 dry red chilies and fry on medium-high heat till onions are slightly browned. Keep stirring at regular intervals.
- Switch off the heat and add 1 teaspoon red chili powder to the pan. If the heat is not switched off, red chili powder will burn and will give a very bad taste.
- Pour this tadka immediately over the dal. We don’t want the chili powder to burn. Mix well and serve hot.
This was fantastic. I drive to an Indian market about 45 minutes away to pick up some items I wanted and on a whim bought toor dal, not knowing exactly what to do with it. I found your wonderful site online and made this recipe. It won’t be the last recipe I make from your amazing website. Thank you for introducing me to a delicious dal!
Wonderful!
Thanks