High Protein Dal Recipe — Three Lentils, One Pot, Crispy Fritters on the Side
📌 TL;DR
What it is: Three lentils — red masoor, black masoor, split moong — cooked into a thick dal, with the boiled lentils used again to make shallow-fried crispy fritters. Two meals from one cook.
Why it works: No deep frying, no maida, no breadcrumbs — fritters made from soaked lentils + besan + semolina
IBS-friendly: Yes — lentils soaked and pressure cooked, gut-soothing spices only
Calories: ~370 kcal per serving | Protein: ~22g per serving
I Meal Prep This on Weekends Because Daily Cooking Is Not Happening
This High Protein Dal Recipe helped me when i needed . I work from home. And somehow that makes it harder to cook every day, not easier. The kitchen is right there but so is every deadline, every client message, every task that bleeds into the time I should be cooking.
So I meal prep. Weekends or middle of the week — I pick one day and I cook in bulk. And this high protein dal recipe is one of the things I always make in that window.
Here’s what I like about it: you soak three dals, pressure cook them with carrot, and then split the batch. Half goes into the dal. The other half gets mixed with besan and semolina and shallow fried into fritters. One soaking session. One pressure cooker. Two completely different things to eat.
The High Protein Dal goes with rice or roti for lunch. The fritters go into a container and become my evening snack or a side dish for the next two days. I usually can’t even gauge how much the lentils will expand after soaking — they always make more than I expect — so this two-in-one approach is just practical.
No deep frying. No maida. No breadcrumbs. Just lentils doing double duty.
Why Three Dals Together
Most dal recipes use one lentil. This high protein dal recipe uses three — red masoor, black masoor, and split moong — and the combination is worth understanding.
Red masoor dal cooks the fastest, breaks down into a smooth, creamy texture, and has a mild earthy flavour. It’s the base that gives the dal its body.
Black masoor dal holds its shape a little better than red masoor, adds a slightly nuttier flavour, and contributes iron and protein. It’s the same lentil as red masoor — just with the outer skin intact, which adds more fibre and a darker colour to the final dal.
Split moong dal is the lightest of the three — the easiest to digest and the most gut-friendly. For IBS specifically, moong dal has one of the lowest FODMAP loads of any lentil. It adds a slight sweetness to the mix and balances the earthiness of the masoor.
Together they give you a richer, more complex dal than any single lentil alone. And the combined protein per serving — around 22g — is significantly higher than a single-lentil dal would give you.
The carrot goes in during pressure cooking. It adds a slight sweetness, softens into the dal, and provides beta-carotene. It also becomes part of the fritter mixture, which is where the texture gets interesting.
Ingredients
Serves 2–3 | Soak: 2–3 hours | Cook: 30 min
For the dal and fritters base:
- ½ cup red masoor dal
- ½ cup split moong dal
- ½ cup black masoor dal
- 50g carrot, chopped into small cubes
- 3 large onions, roughly chopped
- 1 whole garlic pod
- 1-inch piece ginger
- 6–10 green chillies (adjust to your heat tolerance)
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil (2 tsp for dal, 1 tbsp for the paste)
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder
- Salt to taste
- Water as needed
For the crispy lentil fritters:
- 1 cup boiled lentils + carrots (set aside from above)
- ½ cup chickpea flour (besan)
- ½ cup semolina (suji)
- Olive oil for shallow frying
Equipment: Pressure cooker, mixer grinder, non-stick pan with lid, mixing bowl, spatula.
IBS note: This High Protein Dal recipe has onion and garlic — both high FODMAP. On stable days, one serving is generally fine. On flare days, reduce onion to 1 small and replace garlic with garlic-infused oil. The lentils themselves are the gut-friendly part — soaked and pressure cooked, they digest much more easily than unsoaked or undercooked dal.
How to make High Protein Dal Recipe and crispy Fritters -Step by Step Process
Step 1 — Soak the Lentils
Combine all three dals in a bowl. Soak in hot water for 2–3 hours, or overnight in cold water. This is not optional — soaking breaks down the phytic acid in lentils that causes gas and bloating. Rinse well before cooking.
Step 2 — Pressure Cook
Add the soaked, drained lentils and chopped carrot to the pressure cooker with 3 cups of water. Pressure cook for 5 whistles on medium flame. Let pressure release naturally.
Once cooled, set aside 1 cup of the boiled lentil and carrot mixture — this is your fritter base. Keep the rest in the cooker for the dal.
Step 3 — Make the Masala Paste
Roughly chop onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, and green chillies. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan. Sauté everything together with a pinch of salt until soft — about 4–5 minutes. Don’t over-fry. Let it cool slightly, then blend into a smooth paste.
Step 4 — Cook the Dal
In a clean pan, heat 2 tsp olive oil. Add half the onion-garlic paste. Stir in turmeric and red chilli powder and salt. Sauté until oil starts to separate from the masala — about 3 minutes.
Add the boiled lentils with their cooking water. Mix well. Simmer on low heat for 5–7 minutes until everything comes together into a thick, flavourful dal. Garnish with fresh coriander if you have it.
Step 5 — Make the Crispy Fritters
Take the 1 cup of boiled lentils and carrots you set aside. Add besan, semolina, the remaining onion paste, and salt to taste. Mix into a thick batter — not runny, not too dry. It should hold its shape when you form a small patty.
Heat a non-stick pan with a thin layer of olive oil on medium flame. Drop small portions of the batter onto the pan and press lightly into flat rounds. Cook on medium heat — lid on for the first 3 minutes to cook through, then lid off to crisp up. Flip once. Total per batch: about 6–8 minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition Per Serving
| Per Serving | |
|---|---|
| Calories | ~370 kcal |
| Protein | ~22g |
High Protein Dal Recipe — Three Lentils and Crispy Fritters (2-in-1)
Equipment
- 1 Mixer Grinder
- 1 Pressure Cooker
- 1 Non Sticky Pan with Lid
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Mixing bowl
Ingredients
Dal base
- ½ cup red masoor dal
- ½ cup split moong dal
- ½ cup black masoor dal
- 50 g carrot small cubes
- 3 large onions roughly chopped
- 1 whole garlic pod
- 1- inch ginger
- 6 –10 green chillies
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder
- Salt to taste
Fritters
- 1 cup boiled lentils + carrot set aside from above
- ½ cup besan chickpea flour
- ½ cup semolina suji
- Olive oil for shallow frying
Instructions
- Soak all three dals together in hot water for 2–3 hours. Rinse well.
- Pressure cook with chopped carrot and 3 cups water for 5 whistles. Cool. Set aside 1 cup boiled mixture for fritters.
- Sauté onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, green chilli in 1 tbsp oil until soft. Blend into smooth paste.
- In pan, heat 2 tsp oil. Add half the paste, turmeric, red chilli, salt. Sauté until oil separates. Add boiled dal with water. Simmer 5–7 minutes.
- Mix the reserved boiled lentils with besan, semolina, remaining paste, salt into thick batter. Shallow fry in batches on medium heat, lid on first 3 minutes, then off to crisp. Flip once. Serve hot.
Notes
- Soaking is essential — reduces gas and bloating significantly.
- 5 whistles gives a soft, well-cooked dal texture. Don’t undercook.
- Fritters keep 2 days room temperature, 4 days fridge. Reheat in dry pan or air fryer.
- For IBS flares: reduce onion, use garlic-infused oil instead of garlic pod.
- Air fryer option for fritters: 190°C, 12–14 minutes, flip halfway.
Why This Works as Meal Prep
The thing that makes this high protein dal recipe genuinely useful for meal prep — beyond the obvious protein numbers — is the two-in-one structure.
Most meal prep recipes ask you to make one dish and eat it four times in a row. That gets boring fast and I abandon it. This gives you two different things from one cooking session. The dal on day one with rice. The fritters as a snack that afternoon. Leftover dal the next day. Leftover fritters reheated in the air fryer or dry pan the following morning.
The fritters also pack well. I put them in an airtight container and they keep for 2 days at room temperature, 4 days in the fridge. Reheat in a dry pan or air fryer for 3–4 minutes and they crisp back up.
The dal keeps for 3 days in the fridge. It thickens as it sits — add a splash of water when reheating and it comes back to the right consistency.
IBS Notes From Me
Lentils and IBS have a complicated relationship. Most people with IBS avoid them because unsoaked, undercooked lentils are genuinely problematic — high in fermentable carbohydrates that cause gas and bloating.
But soaked and pressure cooked lentils are a different story. The soaking breaks down the fermentable fibres significantly. The pressure cooking makes the lentils soft enough that your gut doesn’t have to work hard to process them.
Split moong dal specifically is one of the safest lentils for IBS — it’s what’s used in khichdi for exactly this reason. Having moong as one-third of this mix keeps the overall FODMAP load of this high protein dal recipe lower than a pure masoor or chana dal would be.
I eat this regularly. One serving. Not two. Portion size matters with lentils and IBS. One serving of well-cooked mixed dal is something my gut handles consistently. Twice that in one sitting is where problems start.
What to Serve With
The dal:
- Steamed rice — classic, easy, the right pairing
- Roti or phulka — lighter option if you’re watching carbs
- With a side of curd — the probiotic from curd alongside the prebiotic fibre from dal is a good gut combination
The fritters:
- As a standalone snack with green chutney
- Alongside the dal as a two-part meal
- With curd as a dip — curd cuts through the spice nicely
Variations
No besan version: Replace chickpea flour with rice flour in the fritters. Same binding, slightly crispier texture, lower FODMAP than besan.
Air fryer fritters: Brush with oil and air fry at 190°C for 12–14 minutes, flipping halfway. Less oil, same crunch.
Extra protein: Add 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds to the fritter batter. Undetectable in flavour, adds 6–7g protein to the whole batch.
Lighter dal: Reduce to two dals — just red masoor and split moong. Skip black masoor if you want an even lighter gut-friendly version.
Related Topic :-7 Best Dals for IBS Relief – Easy Indian Recipes for Gut Health
FAQs
Q1. Is this high protein dal recipe actually safe for IBS?
In one serving, yes — and the preparation method matters here. Soaking the lentils for 2–3 hours before cooking significantly reduces the fermentable carbohydrates that cause gas and bloating. Pressure cooking them fully makes the lentils soft and easy to digest. Split moong dal — one of the three dals in this recipe — is among the most IBS-safe lentils available. I eat this regularly on stable days. On flare days I reduce the onion and replace garlic with garlic-infused oil and keep to a small portion.
Q2. Why do the fritters use besan and semolina instead of maida?
Besan is chickpea flour — higher in protein than maida, lower GI, and naturally gluten-free. Semolina adds crunch and helps the fritters hold their shape without deep frying. Together they create a crispy exterior without needing breadcrumbs or refined flour. For a fully gluten-free version, replace semolina with rice flour — same crunch, no gluten.
Q3. My fritters are falling apart. What went wrong?
The batter is too wet. This usually happens if the boiled lentils had too much residual water in them. Drain the lentils well before mixing with besan and semolina. The batter should be thick enough to hold a shape when pressed. If it’s still too loose, add another tablespoon of besan and mix again. Don’t add water.
Q4. Can I make just the dal without the fritters?
Yes — skip Step 5 entirely. Just pressure cook all three dals together, make the masala paste, and cook the dal as described. The fritter step is entirely optional — it’s just a smart way to use the extra boiled lentils rather than waste them.
Q5. How long does this high protein dal recipe keep?
The dal keeps 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. It thickens as it sits — add a splash of water when reheating and stir well. The fritters keep 2 days at room temperature and 4 days in the fridge. Reheat fritters in a dry pan or air fryer — not microwave, which makes them soggy. Do not freeze either the dal or the fritters — the texture changes significantly.
