i feel good to share recipes which i have grown up with. this mango dal is one of them. my mom’s recipe… would just love this sour dal with rice and some side veggie.
the mangoes used are green raw mangoes. we also add some drumsticks (moringa oleifera) to the dal. don’t go by the light yellow color of the mangoes in the pic below. these were so sour…. gosh…. in fact they were sooo good with salt too… hmmm my mouth is watering as i write this. i love sour fruits like mangoes, bilimbi, star fruit and even tamarind….. yummm
this dal is made with pigeon pea lentils/arhar dal. the dal is cooked first, then tempered and later simmered with raw mangoes and drumsticks. lastly freshly grated coconut is added to the dal. but this part is optional. i love coconut in any dal and so obviously i have added coconut to the mango dal too 
the dal goes very well with basmati rice. an excellent dish to be made in the summers when we have the availability of raw mangoes.
apart from the sliced mango pieces, we also add the seeds. the seeds have flesh on them and when cooked the flesh becomes so soft. its actually fun having the flesh from the seed…. the tartness and sourness of it is still retained after cooking.
so the result is a dal which has the sourness of mangoes and a hint of sweetness from the drumsticks and coconut.
a small tip from my mom while cooking arhar dal/pigeon pea lentils to make it more better and tasty: when pressure cooking add half of the onion with a pinch of asafoetida to the dal. this changes the flavor and taste of the dal remarkably. later you could temper and prepare the dal any way you want.
you might also love to check these dal recipes:
1. palak dal
2. dal fry
3. dal tadka
4. dal makhani
5. whole masoor dal
recipe details for the mango dal below.
ingredients
- 1 cup arhar dal/ split pigeon peas
- half of the onion, chopped or thinly sliced
- a pinch of asafoetida
- 2 small raw mangoes or 1 medium sized raw mango, sliced
- 2-3 drumsticks, chopped in 3-4 inch pieces
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 2 tbsp freshly grated coconut
- 2 cups water for pressure cooking the dal
- 1/2 or 1 cup water to be added to the dal later to get the consistency you want
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish
- salt as required
- half of the onion, chopped
- 1 or 2 green chili, chopped
- 2 dry red chiles, halved and deseeded
- 2-3 garlic, crushed lightly
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- a pinch of asafoetida
- 2 tbsp oil
method:
- pick and rinse the lentils couple of times in water.
- pressure cook the lentils with 2 cups of water, half of the onion, a pinch of asafoetida till the dal is cooked completely.
- slightly mash the dal.
- in a pan heat oil.
- add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
- add cumin seeds and fry them till they get browned.
- add the remaining half of the onion.
- fry the onions till they soften,
- now add the crushed garlic, curry leaves, green chilies, red chilies and a pinch of asafoetida.
- fry these for a minute.
- now add the cooked and lightly mashed dal.
- add sliced mangoes, tomatoes and drumsticks.
- sprinkle salt.
- add some water to get it to the consistency you want.
- simmer till the drumsticks are cooked.
- finally add some freshly grated coconut to the dal.
- simmer for a minute or two.
- garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
- serve hot with cooked basmati rice.
my notes
you can also make this dal without onions and garlic. add some ginger instead to the dal.
also you can make the consistency of the dal as per your choice. add less water later for a thicker consistency and vice versa.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi dassana…. !!
Nice recipe,,,,,!! Will def try dis out as i have raw mango as well as drumsticks with me….! Could u please help me with one more thing… Do u have any recipes which can be had in pregnancy,,,, am askin u dis bcs am pregnant rite now and i don feel like eating a lot of things,,, i get upset even at the sight or smell of the dishes which once used to be my favourite
So i just wanna try something new dat is safe to be taken in pregnancy,,, 
hi ramya, i am not the right person to suggest you anything as far as food is concerned. i can only suggest you to consult your doctor or a nutritionist to help you with getting info about foods that can be had during pregnancy and also with a diet plan.
That plate looks fabulous and so comforting! I had mango dal for the first time since coming to the US and now I make it very often. Love the taste!
Looking forward to the blogging tips on your other blog.
thanks poornima. dal & rice is a comforting meal for me anytime.
Oooooh yummy!! I loooove sour mangoes with salt and all other sour ‘kais’.
Yeh, addition of drum sticks was never tried by my wife. It should certainly enhance the flavour and the Drum stick would mellow down the sourness of the green mango.
Oh Delicious. I have made mango dal and I have made drumstick ( Vegan drumstick not chicken or turkey
) ) dal, but I have never made them together!! As always beautiful pictures!!
thanks ansh
Addition of drusmtick is new 2 me..Would love 2 know more abt food blogging..waiting for ur posts..:)
That looks mouthwatering! Making this asap
Congrats on the new site…am sure it will be useful for us. Mango dhal looks very flavourful perfect with rice
thanks sharmilee…. hopping to your space now.
this is a very common item among the Andras and the karnataka people. As mangoes are grown in abundance the Mango dal, right from thr village folks [ more so they] and the city denizens use mango dal in abundance. Mango, in all its forms are used in avariety of recipes, apart from the Mango pickles used in a hundred varieties.
Welcome to ” green Mango dal” No one can deny its delicious and lingering taste.
thanks ram for sharing the info. i was not aware about this. i know mango are used in a so many recipes from pickles, to drinks to sweets
the drumsticks comment cracked me up:) the daal looks so flavorful with the tangy mango! no raw ones here.. but i can as well use the regular ones, coz half the time they taste super sour:)
Hahaha I know exactly what you mean Richa! When we lived in the US, none of the ‘ripe’ mangos there ever hit the spot.
Would love this daal. We make a mango daal too but there is no drumstick added to it. I found a new way to use the plenty of drumsticks from my garden now, I anyways add them to all my daals these days.
One more thing I notice that most SI cooks add the mangoes with skin while in our parts it’s peeled mango. May be the varieties of mangoes are different , as we had some raw mango slices cut like combs in Pondicherry last year and those had edible skin, we saw others eating them whole n followed the act
I feel it would make my daal a lil bitter, the raw mangoes we get here..
i too add drumsticks to all my dals… the mango peels here are not hard and bitter. they are sour and tender in fact. i have had the raw mangoes in delhi and they the peels were a bit bitter and astringent to taste. its better to then peel the mango and add to the dal.
Hmm, this is the daal I didn’t like as a kid. As an adult, this is priceless, especially, the one Mom makes. However, fresh drumsticks are not available at the Indian grocers all the time. I have tried the frozen ones and they tend to have more bitter overtones.
the food which moms make are always priceless
you could make this dal without drumsticks too.
When we say “drumsticks,” we mean the leg of a turkey or chicken. You clearly don’t mean this here — I’ll have to look it up. I like things made with green mango, though.
i know about the chicken drumsticks. i assume that my readers will know that, what i mean are the drumsticks veggie. i will link with wikipedia info on drumsticks. btw the drumsticks is in the second pic with the sliced mangoes.
Perfect. Dassana. I saw them in the photo, but I still didn’t know what they were. Now I do. The link was really helpful.
thanks sharyn.
dal looks fabulous and delicious. so yumm
Great post Dassana my mom also adds hing, onion and some turmeric with salt while boiling dal. Moms are always great