Instant Pot Guyanese Dhal

Instant Pot filled with yellow Guyanese dhal with a wooden Dhal Gutney off to the right, sitting in the pot and covered in dhal

Instant Pot Guyanese Dhal

This Instant Pot Guyanese Dhal recipe is a shortcut to delicious, creamy traditional Guyanese dhal. It's great for when you are pressed for time and need a pot of delicious Guyanese dhal. It's perfect for dhal and rice or roti!

Course One Pot Dish, Soup, Whole30

Cuisine Guyanese

Keyword best instant pot dhal, easy instant pot dhal, guyanese dhal in instant pot, guyanese instant pot dhal, how to make dhal in instant pot, how to make instant pot dhal, instant pot dhal, instant pot dhal recipe, quick instant pot dhal

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Servings servings

Calories 211kcal

Author Althea Brown

Equipment

Instant Pot
Whisk/Dhal Gutney/Immersion Blender

Ingredients

8 cloves garlic
1 cup yellow split peas (washed)
1 yellow onion (diced)
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin (geera)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
4 cups water

Instructions

Set your instant pot to sauté and when hot add the oil. While that is heating up cut 4 of the garlic cloves into slices and chop up the other 4 cloves.
When the oil is hot, add the sliced garlic cloves and geera (ground or whole cumin) to the pot. Cook until the garlic slices are dark brown in color.
Then rinse and drain the yellow split peas and add it to the pot along with the remaining chopped garlic, onion, salt curry powder, turmeric and cayenne pepper (if using) and 4 cups of water.
Mix to combine, then seal up the instant pot and pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. When the pressure cycle completes, rapid release the pressure.
Then whisk the dhal to mix everything into a smooth consistency (about 1 minute). You can also do this with an immersion blender or a dhal gutney.
Serve hot in a cup (my favorite) or over rice or as side.

Notes

You can use whole cumin (geera) and wiri wiri peppers for heat in this recipe instead of ground cumin and cayenne pepper.
You can also choose to cook (chunkay) the sliced garlic and cumin in a small frying pan and add it to the dhal at the end, the way it is traditionally done. Check out how to in my Traditional Guyanese Dhal Recipe.

Nutrition