Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Dal Bhat Tarkari
The Himalayan daily plate: tempered black lentils, rice, and a turmeric-spiced vegetable curry.
Nepali · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 40 min
~835 cal · 30g protein · 149g carbs · 12g fat · 15g fiber · 3g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Dal bhat tarkari is the daily plate of Nepal, tempered lentil soup (dal) poured over steamed rice (bhat), with a seasonal vegetable curry (tarkari) and often pickles and greens alongside. Eaten twice a day by most Nepalis, it is less a recipe than the rhythm of life, so sustaining that trekkers know the saying 'dal bhat power, 24 hour.'
The dal is finished with a 'jhaneko' tempering of spices sizzled in or oil and poured over at the end, releasing aroma into the whole plate. The beauty of the meal is its balance and variety, lentils, grain, vegetables, and pickle providing complete, wholesome nutrition from humble ingredients.
Eaten by hand from a compartmented plate, dal bhat is refilled again and again in Nepali homes and teahouses, from the Kathmandu Valley to Himalayan villages, and is the true national dish of Nepal.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 cup black lentils (or split urad)
2 cups basmati rice
1.5 cups potatoes, chunked
1.5 cups cauliflower, chunked
1 cup green beans, cut
1 tomato, chopped
3 tbsp (for tempering)
1 tsp jimbu (Himalayan herb) or a pinch of wheat-free and garlic
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 dried red chilies
1 tsp mustard seeds
Instructions
1
Simmer the lentils with turmeric and half the ginger in 4 cups water for 30 minutes, until soft and soupy, and cook the rice separately.
2
Make the tarkari: fry cumin and the remaining ginger-garlic in a spoon of ghee, then add the vegetables, coriander, tomato, and a splash of water, cover, and cook 15 minutes until tender.
3
Temper the dal (jhaneko): heat the rest of the ghee with the mustard seeds, jimbu (or asafoetida and garlic), and dried chilies until the seeds pop and it smells fragrant.
✎ Chef’s note
That final sizzling tempering (tadka) poured over the dal is what lifts it from plain lentils to fragrant dal. Add it just before serving so the aroma is fresh.
4
Pour the sizzling tempering over the lentils.
5
Serve as a round plate: rice in the center, dal poured over, tarkari beside, and a spoon of achar on the rim.
Kathmandu Valley daily table.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kathmandu Valley. Bhaktapur makes juju dhau, king curd, by boiling buffalo milk with a little sugar and setting it in unglazed clay pots that pull moisture out as it thickens. Winter brings yomari, a pointed steamed dumpling of rice flour filled with molasses, eaten at the full moon that closes the rice harvest.
🗺️
Nepal. Nepal preserves greens by fermenting them. Gundruk is leaf mustard, radish or cauliflower leaves packed tight, left to sour, then dried, and it turns up as soup and as pickle through the months when nothing green is growing. Momos, by contrast, came from Tibet and are shared across the Himalaya rather than being Nepali alone.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Nepal
Yomari (Newari Sweet Rice Dumpling)Fig-shaped steamed rice-flour dumpling filled with chaku (jaggery molasses), toasted sesame, and coconut, made for Yomari Punhi.
Sel RotiA ring-shaped, lightly sweet fermented rice bread, crisp outside and soft within.
MomoSteamed dumplings of spiced minced filling served with a tangy tomato-sesame achar, Nepal's everyday bite.
Browse all Nepal recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Nepal meal
TongbaDrink
Juju DhauDessert
MomoLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Bhuna KhichuriBangladesh
MuhammarBahrain
Belizean Rice and BeansBelize
IbiharageBurundi
Diri Kolé ak PwaHaiti
Nigerian Jollof RiceNigeria
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Vegetarian Dinners from Around the World
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Nut-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Dal Bhat Tarkari?
The Himalayan daily plate: tempered black lentils, rice, and a turmeric-spiced vegetable curry.
Where does Dal Bhat Tarkari come from?
Dal Bhat Tarkari is a Nepali dish from Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.
Can Dal Bhat Tarkari be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Dal Bhat Tarkari recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Dal Bhat Tarkari safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Dal Bhat Tarkari take to make?
About 60 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.