This dhaba style egg dal tarka is a childhood favorite of mine. This dish is usually found along the dhabas on the highway which make for popular pit stops during road travels. It is a childhood memory I cherish and a recipe I love.
Made with usual Indian aromatics, this recipe is simple and easy to make. Onions, chillies, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and some basic spices is all you need to make a delicious bowl of this egg dal tarka. I add the eggs in the end after scrambling it seperately. That’s how I like it. My mother scrambles it with the onions while frying it. Every one has their own way, and this is how I make it on most days.
A trip down memory lane
All those long road trips during childhood today form a very essential part of me. Especially those summer vacations that comprised of road trips to our ancestral place in upper Assam. It was the most exciting part of the year for me and my brother, as we could just be on the road with our parents for hours, without any homework to bother us or without the need to wake up for school the next day. We would get to see our extended family and our favorite cousins. Finding joy in everything related to the trip was our thing. And with it came the food that was an intrinsic part of the entire experience.
Those days did not have restaurants or resorts, but mostly local dhabas which served the most exceptional food. Somehow at these dhabas, the entire family of rice lovers would order hot rotis with this egg dal tadka and some spicy country chicken curry. This dal in particular was exclusively available in the dhabas, and something even the little girl in me used to look forward to tasting. I would mostly be asleep in the cold winter evenings when my mom would feed it to me. But as I grew up, I started looking forward to these little moments with family.
Here’s my attempt at recreating that magic of dhaba style egg tadka. This is green moong dal made with a lot of fresh spices and aromatics. The addition of the egg makes this extra special. You will find this recipe in the dhabas along the highway. While it has been many years since I last had it in a dhaba, I have tried recreating my own version based on the memories.
This is my version of egg dal tarka and I love to eat this with chillies, raw onions and some soft rotis. It feels like a trip down the memory lane. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I do.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 200 grams green moong dal soaked in water overnight
- 500 ml water to boil the soaked green moong dal
- 8 grams salt to boil the soaked green moong dal
- 4 ml mustard oil to fry the eggs
- 15 ml mustard oil for the gravy
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 dried red chillies
- 140 grams onion paste
- 15 grams ginger-garlic paste
- 2 green chillies slit in half
- 100 grams tomatoes finely chopped
- 50 ml hot water
- 4 grams cumin powder
- 4 grams turmeric powder
- 4 grams black pepper powder
- 4 grams garam masala
Ingredients
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- Wash the green moong dal. Soak them in a container with water till the top and leave it overnight. Rinse in the morning and set aside.
- Boil the soaked moong dal with water and salt in a pressure cooker for 5-6 whistles (or till soft). Allow it to cool naturally.
- Break three eggs into a bowl and add salt. Whisk with a fork till it is runny and smooth.
- Heat mustard oil in a pan. Let it smoke. Pour the beaten eggs on it. Gently scramble the eggs with a fork, and set aside once cooked.
- Heat mustard oil in a kadhai. Once it becomes pale and starts to smoke, temper with bay leaves and dried red chili.
- Add the onion paste and fry till its raw aroma disappears.
- Add fresh ginger garlic paste and slit green chillies and fry in medium heat till its rawness fades.
- Add the chopped tomato and fry till they start to melt. Add little hot water if required to prevent the masala from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Once the tomatoes start to melt, season with turmeric powder, slat, cumin powder and black pepper powder. Mix well.
- Pour the boiled dal and stir everything well together. Let it come to an aggressive boil.
- Once you achieve your desired consistency in the dal, add the fried eggs. Stir well.
- Season with garam masala one last time and mix everythign together. Serve hot with ghee rotis or parathas.
