Dal Palak | Lentil Spinach Curry

Dal Palak or Lentil Spinach Curry is a delicious, nutritious Indian dal recipe made with yellow lentil (toor dal), spinach and few spices. Toor Dal is also known as split pigeon peas in english. It can be enjoyed with hot chapatis or steamed rice for a complete meal.

This flavoursome palak dal is easy to make and a great option for lunch or dinner as it is so wholesome, filling and satisfying with goodness of protein-rich lentils and iron packed spinach. At my home as everyone loves it with some rice especially on a chilly winter evening.

This lentil & spinach curry recipe is :

• Vegan
• Vegetarian
• Gluten Free
• Healthy & High in Protein
• Can be made in Pressure cooker or Instant Pot

Palak Dal Ingredients:

Toor Dal: Also known as ‘Arhar Dal‘, ‘Tur Dal‘ or ‘Split Pigeon peas‘, this is a type of small yellow lentil oval in shape. Please do not confuse it with moong dal or chana dal, as all these three may look similar but have different taste and texture.

Spinach: Use fresh spinach with spotless green leaves to make this curry. Frozen spinach can also be used but thaw and squeeze it first to get rid of excess moisture.

Onion, Tomatoes & Aromatics: Both onion & tomatoes form the base of curry, adding flavour and texture to it. Apart form it, garlic, ginger and green chillies are used for heat and aroma.

I have used fresh tomatoes here but tomato puree can also be used. Similarly if you are short of time instead of grating / chopping fresh ginger and garlic use can use ginger garlic paste.

Ghee / Oil: At my home I have always seen my mother cooking this palak dal in ghee (clarified butter) but if you want to make it vegan (dairy free) you can even use any cooking oil for preparing this dish.

Spices: The dal is spiced with aromatic spices like cumin (jeera), red chilli powder, coriander, asafoetida & garam masala. You can adjust the amount of spiciness in recipe as per your taste.

How to make dal palak?

To make the curry, we begin by first washing and soaking the arhar dal. Washing the lentils thoroughly under running water makes sure that there is no dust or impurities left in it. Soaking the lentils makes it easier for the body to digest, absorb it and reduces the cooking time which preserves the nutritional value.

We then proceed to cook the lentils in pressure cooker or instant pot till they are tender in texture. Avoid overcooking at this step as otherwise it can be all mushy and soup like.

By the time lentils are cooking, we will make a lip-smacking masala curry with garlic, ginger, onion, tomatoes, green chillies and spices. Lentils (Dal) & spinach will them be simmered in it later to absorb all flavours.

Serving Ideas:

This Dal Palak tastes best with chapatis / roti or steamed rice. Served with some salad on sides, papad or mango pickle, it makes for an absolutely comforting soulful meal.

Hope you would like this tasty curry lentils with spinach. If you are trying to include more lentils or dal in your diet, the also do check out the recipes below:

• Red Lentil Curry (Masoor Dal)
• Red lentil fritters (Masoor Dal Vada)
• Dal Fry (Yellow Lentil Curry)
• Moong Dal Toast (Lentil Toast)
• Dal Paratha (Lentil Flatbread)

Ingredients: (Serves 3 to 4)

• Toor Dal (Yellow Lentil / Split Pigeon Peas)- 1 cup
• Spinach- 250 to 300 grams
• Large Onion (chopped)- 1
• Garlic (finely chopped)- 5 to 6 cloves
• Ginger Paste- 2 tsp
• Tomatoes*- 2
• Green Chilli- 1
• Water- 3 + 1/4 cup
• Oil / Desi Ghee- 1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder (Haldi)-1 tsp
• Salt- 1 tsp (to taste)
• Cumin seeds (Jeera)- 1 tsp
• Asafoetida (Heeng)- 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder (Dhaniya)-1 tsp
• Garam Masala- 1/2 tsp
• For tempering (optional):
  • Ghee / Oil- 2 tsp
  • Cumin seeds (Jeera)- 1/2 tsp
  • Red Chilli Powder- 1/4 tsp
  • Dried Red Chilli- 1

(*Instead of fresh tomatoes, you can use 2-3 tbsp of tomato puree also)

Directions:

Step 1: Wash the arhar dal (lentils) well while scrubbing with fingers. Discard the water and repeat this process 2-3 times to get rid of any dust.

Step 2: Soak it in water for 20-30 minutes. If you are in a hurry soak it in warm water for 15 minutes. Soaking lentils helps in reducing the cooking time.

Step 3: Discard the water in which dal was soaked. Add it to a pressure cooker with 3 cups of fresh water, 1/2 tsp salt & turmeric (haldi). Pressure cook it for 2 whistles and then simmer for 3-4 minutes. You can even boil lentils in instant pot. Switch off the flame and let the pressure release on its own. Keep these boiled lentils aside.

Step 4: In a pan, heat cooking oil or ghee. Add cumin seeds (jeera), asafoetida (heeng), chopped garlic and ginger paste. Sauté for 30 seconds and then add chopped onions. Cook the onions on medium-low flame till they turn pink in colour.

Step 5: While the onions are cooking, blend the tomatoes & green chillies together in a blender jar. Once the onions have turned pink, add blended tomatoes, red chilli powder and coriander powder (dhaniya) to it. Mix well and let this masala cook well till it begins to release fat on the sides of vessel.

Step 6: While the masala mixture is cooking, chop off & discard the spinach stalks. Roughly chop the spinach leaves and rinse them briefly once under running water.

As you can see below, masala is completely cooked now.

Add chopped spinach and 1/2 tsp salt. Sauté for 2-3 minutes till the leaves begin to soften up.

Step 7: When the palak leaves have softened, add boiled lentils (dal) and garam masala to the same pan. Mix gently. Taste it & adjust salt as per your taste. If dal has thickened, you can add 1/4 cup of more water to get desirable consistency.

Cover the pan and let the spinach lentil simmer for 10 minutes. This ensures that all flavours are blended well.

Optional Step: Once dal palak is ready, you can prepare a tadka or tempering to pour over the dal as explained below. The step is optional but would totally recommend it as it enhances the taste of dal so much.

Heat oil or ghee in a small pan, add jeera seeds, chilli powder, and whole dried red chilli to it. When the jeera seeds begins to crackle, pour this tadka over dal before serving.

Tips:

1. You can even use moong dal or red lentils (masoor dal) to make this recipe. If you are using either of them, just wash (no need to soak) and pressure cook till they are just tender.
2. To cut short the preparation time, while the lentils are cooking you can  concurrently prepare the onion-tomato masala.
3. The leftover dahl can be stored in air tight container in fridge easily for 2-3 days.
4. It may thicken after cooling down, so before reheating add around 3-4 tbsp of water. Reheat in a pan on stovetop or in microwave.

Enjoy dal palak or spinach lentils with some hot chapatis or steamed rice. Bon Appetit!! More recipes with spinach:

• Spinach Corn Appe
• Spinach Corn Sandwich
• Palak Paneer (Spinach curry)
  
• Spinach Paratha (Indian bread)
  

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(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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