Dal Palak
Dal Palak is one of the best lip smacking comfort food with goodness of proteins & iron. Dal & spinach cooked with spices for scrumptious wholesome meal.
Equipment
- Pressure cooker, Heavy base pan
Ingredients
- 300 gm yellow split dal
- 500 gm fresh spinach leaves
- 2 small wine tomatoes, puree
- 2-3 red onions, finely chopped
- 2-3 green chillies
- 3-4 tbsp mustard oil or clarified butter
- 1” fresh ginger, finely sliced
- 2-4 fresh garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1.5 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp asafoetida
- 2-3 dried red chillies
- water as required
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the dal in water for 30minutes to an hour before pressure cook.Boil, slow cook or pressure cook it’s your choice depending on your lifestyle. Please follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cooking time of various modes.
- When using fresh spinach leaves or fresh Indian style spinach it takes a few minutes to slow cook. In that case slightly undercook the dal in pressure cooker. Later add fresh spinach and slow cook for 8-10minutes.
- Heat oil in a heavy base pan. Add cumin seeds, dried, red chillies, turmeric ginger and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Later add tomato purée and cook until it leaves the surface and oil bubbles from the cooked mixture.
- Finally add the cooked dal with spinach. Bring it to boil. Serve with hot pulls and steamed rice. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon for extra flava.
Notes
Spinach goes well with all the lentils. My favourite is spinach and Toor dal , yellow split dal. On many occasions I have use a 50:50 combination of Moong dal and Toor dal.
In my opinion, onion, ginger, garlic, and mustard oil are essential in this lentil curry. They basically build the foundation in which the flavor layering starts.
Variations : Besides spinach, I have used broccoli or bok choy in the past, however I always suggest to lean into what’s in season. During the summer, try zucchini or yellow squash for a fun seasonal spin.