Bengali-style lentils with potato, popularly known as alu Diye Cholar Dal. This mild and delicious dal with Indian split chickpeas and Potatoes topped with toasted coconut is perfect with poori or rice!

Check out how to make this cholar dal with potatoes in Instant Pot with detailed step-wise pictures. 

Potato is a versatile vegetable; we can find some amazing recipes worldwide. Like every other cuisine, Indian cuisine celebrates potatoes, and you can find various recipes from Indian regional cuisine. This week I will share two potato recipes with lentils from Indian cuisine. 

This recipe is my version of Bengali-style aloo dal, known as alu diye cholar dal. I have already shared cholar dal and sobji dal from Bengali cuisine. Now it’s time for the third one. I m not claiming this to be an authentic or traditional recipe. With my limited experience and with some research, I am presenting my no-onion and no-garlic aloo cholar dal, which I adapted from my version of plain cholar dal. 

Ingredients required

Chana dal: Cholar dal/chana dal / kadalai paruppu is the split desi chickpeas, and I have used 1 cup. We need to soak it for an hour, and that soaking time is sufficient for this recipe.

Fresh coconut pieces: Fresh coconut pieces toasted in ghee are one of the key ingredients. It adds a nice texture and subtle flavor to the dal. 

Potatoes: While you can add potatoes and pressure cook them along with the dal, I pan-fried them first in mustard oil until it’s partially cooked and then cooked them along with the dal. 

To Temper: We need ghee panch phoron spice mix, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, green chili, dried chili, and grated ginger. 

Mustard oil: It’s an optional ingredient. I used it for roasting potatoes. But you can use other oil of your choice, but mustard oil certainly does elevate the flavors. 

Spices: We need salt, sugar, and turmeric powder, and we don’t need any other additional spices. 

Last, we need water to soak and cook the dal. Please check the recipe card for exact measurements. 

Dietary specifications and variations

• You can roast the potatoes in ghee or oil of your choice. 
• This alu diye cholar dal is naturally gluten-free. I have used ghee for tempering, but you can skip ghee and use mustard oil or other oil for a vegan version. 
• You can use grated frozen or dry coconut if you don’t have fresh coconut. When using dry coconut, the taste varies slightly. 

How to make Bengali-style chana dal

Prep-work

• Rinse the chana dal thoroughly and soak the dal with sufficient water( 2 to 3 cups approx.) for 1 hr.

Roast the coconut

• Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and add the ghee. When the display shows “HOT,” add the coconut pieces and roast them until it turns light brown. 

• Remove them from the pot and set them aside.

Temper and pressure cook the dal.

• Add the panch phoron, cardamom, clove, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, dried red chilies, and slit green chili in the same pot. Fry the whole spices for about a minute.

• Drain the water from the dal, and add it to the Instant Pot. Add the water, grated ginger, and turmeric powder.

• Mix well. Press cancel and close the Instant pot. Pressure cook at manual/pressure cook mode for 8 minutes and release the pressure naturally.

Roast the potatoes

• When the dal is cooking, parallelly you can roast the potatoes. Heat a pan or kadai and add the mustard oil. Ensure it comes to the smoking point, then add the potatoes.

• Fry them over medium-low heat until the potatoes turn light brown on the edges like below. Keep stirring the potatoes as you fry for even cooking. It took me approx. 7 minutes.

Add the potatoes and simmer the dal.

• Open the Instant Pot and mix well when the pressure is gone. The dal should be completely cooked, but still, it should hold the shape.

• Add the salt and sugar and mix well. Mash a little amount of dal and add the potatoes.

• Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and partially cover it IP lid or any other glass lid, and let the dal simmer for 5 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and tender.

• Turn off the Instant Pot and add the fried coconut pieces. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with rice or dal puri, or regular poori.

Recipe Notes

• You can soak the dal for up to 2 hours but don’t soak it for more than two hours. Also, do not overcook the dal. We need a soft yet firm dal that holds its shape. 
• Adjust the salt and spices to taste. 
• You can add ¼ to ½ of garam masala. The traditional recipe calls for the Bengali garam masala / garam moshla, and I didn’t add any. Even without garam masala, it tastes amazing. 

Pressure cooker method.

• In a pressure pan or cooker, first, toast the coconut and set them aside. Then, in the same pan, prepare the tempering like in the Instant Pot method mentioned, add the dal and water, and pressure cook for two whistles. 
• Parallelly roast the potatoes. When the dal is done, add the roasted potatoes, salt, and sugar and simmer the dal for 5 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and tender.
• Add the fried coconut pieces and garnish it with cilantro and enjoy.

More dal recipes from India

PS – If you try this aloo dal, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap.  Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.

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