Why is my dhal still hard?

[GreenTuraco]

I love home made dhal, made with channa dal/yellow split peas, but the buggers seem so difficult to cook to the point of comforting softness.
I swear years ago I could make a dhal with channa dhal within a couple of hours, but today and the last time I tried to make dhal using dried channa dhal it has refused to cook properly despite hours of cooking.
So for this batch I soaked the dry channa dhal in water overnight then cooked in the slow cooker on high for four hours which did little to soften it, so put it in a pan on the hob where it has been cooking for 2.5 hours and as I'm hungry now I've made it into dhal and I have a bowl full, but it is still slightly al dente, when I would prefer it to be soft and lovely.
So annoying after hours of soaking and cooking.
After the last batch failed to soften I bought a new bag of channa dal in case it was to do with it being an old batch but these are just the same.
Where am I going wrong?
Considering buying a pressure cooker, but I used to be able to cook this fine on the hob so I really don't know.

Right, I did wonder. So annoying that both bags recently bought (different brands) have been non-softening ones.

I always get mine from Asian/middle eastern/west african shops.

if you have any near you, worth checking out, if they don’t have tinned ones, majority will have dried ones under TRS brand, which cooks a lot better than supermarket brands ones. Just soak them the night before

I totally agree with this. By using pressure cooker, nothing can stay hard.

You don't know how long it has been since they were harvested.

As a bean grower I can confirm they get harder to cook the older they are.

I have bought some recently and the recipe said soak for 30mins, boil for 20 mins and then there was about an extra 10 minutes when it was all cooked together. It definitely needed longer. I found when left overnight and I heated one portion it needed a good 15-20 mins extra. I assumed it was the type of daal.

I have had this problem too with chana
if you can buy from an Asian shop it may be better turnover / fresher

Does anyone have any daal recipes they want to share? They are one of my favourite things to eat.

😂I bought a small instant pot exclusively for beans and dhal, game changer.

use red lentils, they cook in about 10 minutes (no presoak required). Some of the other ones take ages. Also there are yellow ones called Moong dahl, again these are small and cook much more quickly.

I noticed that whenever I bought a big bag of yellow split peas from the 'world food' section it took 3+ hours for them to be soft enough to mash, but sainsburys small bags only seem to take 1-1.5 hours.

Could be that some brands hold onto stock for longer so some batches might be older by the time you buy them.

I like the one on BBC good food, and it freezes well.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/1231251/recipe/yellow-split-pea-dhal

I have a multi cooker, I use the pressure cook setting

This happens when it's picked before it's ready. It will never cook!

I don't like the texture or flavour of red lentils in a Dahl but whole, as brown lentils, they are delicious.

I've made that one and liked it and also this one which I love https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lahori-chanay-ki-daal

Given all the MN acronyms I read your OP heading as "why is my (dear)hal so hard" and only clicked to see what a DHal might be

Ugh after all the hours spent making the bloody dahl I have had to chuck loads of it as I had bad stomach ache all last night from the chana Dal not being thoroughly cooked.
I'm looking into buying an instant pot now.