Our Anytime Golden Raisin Dal

This dal is what I make whenever we’re feeling a little rundown, or start to sense a sniffle.

It’s what I make when I have a busy day ahead, know I’ll need a nourishing lunch, and only have 10 minutes to prepare it.

It’s what I make when I didn’t think about dinner more than the moment that we needed to eat it.

It’s what I make when Leo is picky, and I want him to eat some veggies and plants (no child doesn’t love fishing chubby raisins out of their meal!)

It’s the comforting, grounding, nourishing bowl that I pull out whenever I need something to be easy, powerful and low lift.

I always have the foundational ingredients to make it in the pantry, so it’s never not the right answer. And the recipe can shift with the seasons so it’s always exactly the right thing to enjoy.

I make this Anytime Golden Raisin Dal so much, I had to add it to the Recipe Library just so I would have a reference for when I’m sharing it with others who obviously need it in their lives too.

The best part about this dal

…isn’t that it’s creamy, craveable, helps digestion stay balanced, acts as a perfect meal for busy days or travel, that it’s packed with powerful plant foods that even my toddler loves. It’s that in any season, anytime, I can pull it out as a blueprint and make something seasonally aligned and delicious.

In the winter and fall months, I pack it with pumpkin, beets, butternut squash chunks, apples, delicata squash slices, sweet potatoes, winter greens (chard and kale,) carrots, rutabaga, parsnip – literally all of the contents of the root cellar go well here.

When spring arrives, asparagus, peas, tender spinach and young carrots are the feature.

And when summer swings through, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, peaches, carrots, tatsoi, radishes, and even tomatoes puncuate our bowls of cozy nourishment.

The recipe changes with every season to be exactly what I need it to be.

Superpowered spices

If you’re new here, or newer to a modern way of cooking Ayurvedically, you might look at this ingredient list and sigh with the quantity of spices. “Do I really need these?” you might ask.

YES. YOU DO.

The spices are the superheros of this recipe. Yes yes, fiber and minerals and protein and all that comes from the lentils and vegetables, but the real power is in the spices. Each of the spices you see here has a different bioenergetic imprint and THIS is what makes the recipe balancing for all doshas, a support for all systems.

• • Cumin grounds the gut, stokes agni, and helps the body actually use the protein in the dal instead of letting it sit heavy.
  • Coriander cools and clears, easing heat and inflammation while keeping digestion light and fluid.
  • Ginger wakes everything up—circulation, digestion, metabolism—cutting through sluggishness and gas like a spark to dry wood.
  • Turmeric is the long-game healer: anti-inflammatory, blood-cleansing, and supportive of liver and tissue repair.
  • Fennel softens digestion, reduces bloating, and brings a subtle sweetness that calms vata and pitta without dulling agni.
  • Cinnamon warms circulation and blood sugar balance, helping energy feel steady instead of spiky or depleted.
  • Black mustard penetrates and mobilizes—breaking up stagnation, clearing heaviness, and sharpening digestive intelligence.
  • Salt pulls the whole thing into coherence, enhancing absorption, stimulating digestive juices, and anchoring the dish in satisfaction.

This anytime golden raisin dal

…often unfolds in my house like this.

It’s early in the morning and I realize we don’t have anything for lunch, and I won’t have time to make anything. So I take 10 minutes to set everything up in the InstantPot and lunch is waiting for us, hot and ready, when we are. Othertimes, we have a flight and need something simple for dinner the night before that will travel easily the next day for lunch. This dal is it (our little trio of thermoses is always a matter of jealousy and inquiry as we go through security!) OR, I finish work just about the time we want to be eating dinner, and haven’t done anything to make it happen. Twenty minutes is all I need for something warm, grounding and considered.

All of this is made possible by my InstantPot, and its companion rice cooker. And it’s important to have both so you can have both the dal and rice to go with it! You can absolutely make this dal on the stovetop, and if you’re not yet sold on having an IP/rice cooker combo I suggest you do it…because your process will take 3x as long and this meal will be 3x less satisfying and helpful for you! Not because there’s something wrong with cooking on a stove top – I LOVE cooking on a stovetop. But we all need ways to make beautiful, whole, nourishing meals more easily in a fast paced world. And spending $150 on a device (rather than thousands on less whole, packaged or convenience foods) is the way I recommend we make that happen!