Dal-chingri: a quick recipe for red lentils cooked with prawns

Many people tire of eating dal and rice every day, yet there is not always time to cook fish. Dal-chingri, red lentils cooked with prawns, is a quick answer. Jagonews24's lifestyle desk published this recipe on 5 January 2026, describing it as a simple dish for people who live alone or find cooking a chore for lack of time, and a good way to bring a little variety to plain dal and rice.

In South Asian cooking, dal means dried, split pulses such as lentils, peas or mung beans. Masoor dal is split red lentils, usually with the hulls removed. Lentils are a staple across the Indian subcontinent, where split lentils are cooked into a thick curry eaten with rice or roti. Bengali cuisine puts strong emphasis on rice as the staple, with fish traditionally the most common protein.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) noted in 2019 that 100 grams of dry lentils contain about 25 grams of protein. Because pulses absorb a great deal of water during cooking, cooked pulses hold around 8 percent protein. FAO adds that combining pulses with cereals in a meal, lentils with rice for example, improves the quality of the protein.

The recipe does not name a type of prawn. In Bangladesh the large freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the giant river prawn, is known as golda chingri.

The Jagonews24 recipe lists:

• Red lentils (masoor dal): 1 cup
• Prawns: 6, medium
• Chopped onion: 2 tablespoons
• Chopped garlic: 1 teaspoon
• Ginger-garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
• Chopped tomato: 1
• Green chillies: 3-4
• Turmeric powder: half a spoon
• Chilli powder: 1 spoon
• Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
• Dried red chillies: 2
• Garam masala powder: 1 teaspoon
• Oil: 3 tablespoons
• Ghee: 1 teaspoon
• Salt and sugar: to taste

• Boil the lentils well with salt and turmeric.
• Rub the prawns with salt and turmeric, fry them lightly in mustard oil and set them aside.
• In the same oil, temper whole garam masala and the dried chillies.
• Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry well.
• When the onion softens, add the ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and tomato and cook the mixture down well.
• Mix in the fried prawns, add salt, a little sugar and all the ground spices, and cook down again.
• When the spices are done, add the boiled lentils, stir in hot water as needed, cover and cook for about five minutes.
• When the dal thickens, turn off the heat, sprinkle a little ghee and garam masala powder on top and take it off the stove.

Serve the dal-chingri with hot rice or roti.

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) lists shellfish such as prawns, crab and lobster among the foods most likely to cause an allergic reaction, and advises anyone who thinks they may have a food allergy to see a doctor. People who are, or may be, allergic to prawns should speak to a doctor before eating this dish.

Photo: Kumar83 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), National Health Service (NHS), Wikipedia