Palak Dal Recipe
Delicious palak dal is a tasty lentil recipe where spinach is cooked with lentils. Serve it as a soup or a meal.
Servings 4
Calories 186kcal
Equipment
- 1 Kadhai
Ingredients
- 1 cup toor dal or yellow lentils
- 3 cups spinach leaves
- 1 onion
- 2 tomatoes
- ¾ tsp. Garlic minced
- ¾ tsp. Ginger grated
- 2 Green chillies optional
- ½ tsp. Turmeric powder
- ½ tsp. Red chilli powder or paprika
- 1 tsp. Salt
Tempering
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 tsp. Cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp. Asafoetida or heeng optional
- 2 Dry red chillies
Garnish
- Lemon juice
Instructions
- Take 1 cup toor dal or yellow lentils. Wash it well.
Manual Pressire Cooker Instructions
- Take it in a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups water and ½ tsp. Turmeric powder.
- Cook in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles. Let the pressure release manually. Your lentils should be mushy and well cooked. Keep aside.
Instant Pot Instructions
- Take washed toor dal with turmeric and 3 cups water in Instant Pot.
- Set pressure cooking time to 9 minutes. Once the timer beeps, let it release naturally for 6 minutes.
- Then release steam and mix the dal. It will be nice and cooked.
- Wash spinach leaves. You can use stems if they are tender, otherwise only use the leaves. Chop and keep aside.
- Heat coconut oil in a pan.
- Add cumin seeds and asafoetida (if using) along with dry red chillies. Let them crackle.
- Add minced garlic and ginger and fry for a minute. Add in finely chopped onion.
- Fry till they are lightly browned.
- Now tip in the chopped tomatoes. Mix well and cook till the tomatoes are mushy. Add in the chopped spinach leaves.
- They will start wilting immediately. Cover and cook till the spinach cooks.
- Add in turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt.
- Now tip in the cooked dal. You can mash the cooked dal with the back of a ladle if you like the dal to be nicely mushy.
- Mix the palak dal well and cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Your dal palak or spinach dal is ready to serve.
- Garnish with a sprinkle of lemon juice and serve hot.
Storage Instructions
- You can easily store the dal in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can also freeze it after cooling it down and store in the freezer for up to a month.
- Thaw, heat and serve after another fresh tempering to enhance the fresh taste.
Notes
1. Adjust the spice as per taste. This dal is mildly flavoured. I have added green chillies and red chilli powder for heat. You can skip the same.
2. Traditionally, ghee is used for tempering this dal but I have used coconut oil or any vegetable oil works too.
3. I have used 3 cups spinach in the recipe. You can use 2 cups or even more than 3 cups too.
4. You can use a mix of lentils like toor dal, moong dal and masoor dal here.
5. You can cook dal in a pan on stove top too. It will take longer than pressure cooking though.
6. You can cook this without using onion and tomatoes. Just skip those and follow the rest of the recipe for a simpler dal palak.
2. Traditionally, ghee is used for tempering this dal but I have used coconut oil or any vegetable oil works too.
3. I have used 3 cups spinach in the recipe. You can use 2 cups or even more than 3 cups too.
4. You can use a mix of lentils like toor dal, moong dal and masoor dal here.
5. You can cook dal in a pan on stove top too. It will take longer than pressure cooking though.
6. You can cook this without using onion and tomatoes. Just skip those and follow the rest of the recipe for a simpler dal palak.
Nutrition
Calories: 186kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Sodium: 543mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 2496IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 3mg