You can have your dahl as soft as porridge or with as much bite as you want. Some areas of India hate their Dahl with any sweetening - I'm Bengali and we love it so try both ways and see which kind of Indian you are. Using a pressure cooker for the lentils this should take you 15-20 minutes all in. Otherwise just simmer in a pan and you're still about 30 minutes to a fantastic Dahl.