Easy Tarka Dal (Vegan Red Lentil Curry)

Tarka dal is a simple lentil curry that’s a hit every time. With just a few aromatic spices, you can transform a few humble lentils into a creamy, intensely flavourful Indian dish, which can be served on its own, or as a side dish.

It’s my go-to dish to order at an Indian restaurant, because the flavours are just unreal, but it can be made at home in just 30 minutes. It’s perfect scooped up with some chapattis or naan bread!

Lentils are so underrated. They may be a cheap and humble ingredient, but that’s what’s so wonderful about them! You can cook lentils in so many different ways (here are some lentil recipe ideas – even lentil pizza is good!), and it doesn’t take much to transform them into something truly special.

Tarka dal (also known as tadka dal) is one of my all-time favourite lentil recipes. It’s a simple lentil curry that’s made with the most irresistible, aromatic ingredients – like toasted spices, fried onions and garlic – which really bring the lentils to life.

Served with rice or naan bread, or scooped up in chapattis, tarka dal never disappoints.

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It tastes incredible.
• It takes only 30 minutes to cook.
• You can serve it on its own as a main course, or as an Indian side dish alongside your favourite curry – like my easy falafel curry, for example.
• It’s easy to adapt by swapping the spices, or adding extra vegetables.
• It’s vegan, gluten-free, and super healthy – but still tastes amazing.

🥗 Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this simple lentil curry:

A few ingredient notes:

• red lentils. Red lentils cook more quickly than brown and green lentils, and end up much softer, so they’re perfect for tarka dal (and great for making a creamy lentil soup too!). You can find out more about the different types of lentils here. For this recipe, I wouldn’t recommend using brown or green lentils.
• chopped chillies. I used frozen ones, as I don’t use fresh chillies often enough to get through a whole pack without wasting some. Frozen vegetables are great for reducing food waste, and they come pre-chopped too! Feel free to use fresh red chillies if you prefer.
• onion and garlic
• ground spices – I used turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and coriander.
• tomato paste
• cilantro for garnish is optional, but recommended!

See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

Becca’s Top Tip

If you don’t want to keep too many different spices in the kitchen, garam masala is a great option for Indian cooking. It is a blend of various spices that gives a great base for most Indian-style curries, rather than buying each spice individually.
You can buy garam masala online, on Amazon US.

🔄 Ingredient Swaps

Feel free to make this recipe your own – it’s really easy to customise.

Here are a few ways you could adapt this recipe:

• If you don’t have the spices I’ve listed, you can absolutely try a different combination. For example, swap the cinnamon for nutmeg, or add some smoked paprika instead of the cumin. Obviously the end result will end up tasting slightly different, but small changes should still taste good.
• If you like to get some extra vegetables into your food wherever you can, try adding some frozen peas or spinach to the lentils as they cook.
• Stir through some coconut milk or cream before serving for an extra luxurious lentil curry.

🔪 Equipment

I always use a silicone spoon when cooking a fragrant curry, or anything else with a strong flavour – you can see my favourite bright pink one in almost all of my recipe photos!

Unlike with a wooden spoon, silicone doesn’t absorb flavours from your cooking, so you can use it for curry one day, and custard the next, without any flavour contamination or staining. Silicone spoons are even dishwasher safe, to help with thorough washing.

My favourite shape is a spoon with slightly square corners, as it makes it so easy to scrape around the corners of a saucepan. You can buy them here on Amazon US / Amazon UK.

Other than that, you don’t need any specialist equipment to make this lentil curry. It’s a one pot meal, so just a decent saucepan is all you need!

📋 Instructions

Here’s how to make this beautiful tarka dal – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Begin by cooking the aromatics in a pan with a dash of oil – this includes the garlic, onion, chillies, and all of the spices.

Step 2: Add the tomato paste, and cook for a few more minutes until the mixture is well cooked (your house should smell incredible by now!).

Step 3: Add the red lentils and some water, and bring to a gentle simmer. Allow to cook until the lentils are soft, then serve.

💭 Tarka Dal FAQs