About this recipe
For this recipe, I combined three lentils together( toor dal, moong dal, and chana dal) with the spinach leaves. That’s a good balance of protein and fiber. The result is a heavenly dal palak that pairs very well with rice, rotis, and bread. I agree to be sent email.
When you serve this dal with any vegetable stir fry, you would actually get two meals out of it for a family of four. I like to put one of these together on a Sunday afternoon and have leftovers for Monday. The original dal palak is quite common in most Indian restaurants and one of the popular dal recipes. The recipe I have today is a variation in the way I have used different kinds of dal and I show you how to cook the dal with the Instant pot. It’s also vegan and gluten-free!
What goes into this recipe
I have listed all the ingredients in the recipe card below. The main ingredients are Lentils: I used Toor dal(split pigeon pea) moong dal(split yellow lentils) and chana dal(split chickpea lentils or Bengal gram dal) Spinach: I used organic baby spinach but just about any kind of spinach will work well. Be sure it is clean and washed. Spices: Spices like red chili powder, garam masala, turmeric will give a nice flavor to the spinach dal recipe. Be sure not to skip any of those spices listed 🙂
How to make this recipe
First, cook the dal with 2 cups of water or (add water until lentils are covered) in a pressure cooker up to 4 whistles. keep it aside. If you choose an instant pot to cook the lentils: add water to the lentils until it covers completely or approximately 1 ¾ cup water. Cook for 15 mins at high pressure. Place a pan over medium heat and drizzle 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. When the oil heats up, add cumin seeds, and cloves or lavangam. When they start to sizzle add chopped garlic, ginger and after 10-15 seconds, add green chilies(optional). Stir them for a few seconds. Now, add chopped onions and continue to cook until the onions turn transparent. Add turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder (dhania powder), chili powder, and salt. Continue to stir them well and cover the lid for about a minute. Now add the chopped spinach or add baby spinach without chopping them, add ¼ cup water and stir them well and cover the lid. After about 3 minutes, add the cooked lentils and add water if it is too dry. When it starts to boil, add lemon juice, simmer down the heat and cook for about a minute. As the spinach cooks thoroughly, switch off the heat. Prepare tempering: This step is optional but I never skip this as it gives extra flavor and aroma to the spinach dal. Place a small pan over medium heat and add cooking oil. As the oil heats up, add hing/asafoetida, kashmiri red chili powder, kasuri methi, 2 dried red chilis and saute for 15 seconds. Pour this tadka or tempering to the dal palak and let the flavors get spread to the entire dal. That’s it! Spinach Dal recipe is ready! Serve it hot paired with rice or roti for the best tasting nutritious dinner!
Expert tips
Always wash and rinse the lentils before you use them in the recipesFor this recipe, I soaked the chana dal and toor dal for 30 minutes prior to cooking. That will reduce the cooking time. And lentils will be perfectly cooked.Use prewashed and organic spinach leaves to be sure that you get them free of fertilizers and pesticides free spinach leaves. If you use regular spinach or non-organic kind, be sure to wash them 2- 3 times. I used homemade fresh ground spices in this dal palak recipe. Fresh ground spices give a nice aroma to dal recipes that you don’t get in packaged spice powders. If you are using regular spinach, chop them finely and use 3 cups for this recipe.
If you like this spinach dal recipe why not try this:
Homemade Dinner Rolls (Whole Wheat Pav)Rice Flour Flat Bread - Akki Roti RecipeSpicy Spinach QuinoaPalak Rice - Instant Pot Spinach Rice
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