Dal Palak Recipe | Spinach Dal with Garlic
Dal Palak recipe or Spinach dal - Easy vegetarian dahl or lentil soup made with Toor Dal, spinach, garlic and spices in a pressure cooker. Serves as weeknight dinner under 30 minutes with Basmati Rice or roti.
Servings 3 people
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dal (1 cup is 250ml, 1 tbsp is 15 ml and 1 tsp is 5 ml)
- ½ cup Toor Dal (Arhar Dal or Thuvaram Paruppu) split pigeon peas
- 1 cup Spinach finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- Salt to taste
- Water to cook lentils
Ingredients for the 1st Tempering
- ½ cup Onions finely chopped 1 medium size onion used
- 10 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- ½ teaspoon Jeera or Cumin Seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds or Rai
- A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida skip this ingredient for GF recipe
Ingredients for Final Tempering
- 2 teaspoon Ghee or Clarified Butter replace with oil for vegan recipe
- ¼ teaspoon Jeera or Cumin Seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds or Rai
- 2 Whole dry red chillies
- ¼ teaspoon Kashmiri Red chilli powder
- A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida skip this ingredient for GF recipe
Instructions
- Wash and Soak 1/2 cup Toor Dal for 10 mins. Drain water and keep aside.
- Pressure cook soaked and drained toor dal with 1 tightly packed cup of chopped spinach and 1 & 1/2 cups of water with turmeric and salt for 3 to 4 whistles.
- Switch off gas. Allow pressure to release naturally before opening the lid.
- Gently whisk or mash the lentils and prepare for tempering
- Heat a pan, add 1 tbsp oil, mustard seeds, jeera and whole red chillies. Once mustard crackles, add finely chopped garlic and onion and sauté until onions are translucent.
- To the pan, add pressure cooked dal + spinach and mix well. Allow it to simmer for a few seconds. Check seasoning and once the dal reaches a boil, switch off the heat.
- Remove the dal into a serving bowl and prepare for 2nd tempering. Note - This is optional.
- For the 2nd tempering, heat a pan, add 2 tsp ghee, some mustard seeds, jeera, whole red chilies, a pinch of hing or asafoetida.
- Once the mustard crackles, add a pinch of kashmiri red chilli powder and immediately switch off the flame. Pour this tempering over the dal just before serving.
Notes
Ingredients and Substitutes -
- You can substitute toor dal with red lentils (masoor dal) or moong dal (split yellow lentils).
- Spinach - Use fresh or frozen spinach. You can also add frozen spinach puree if you like. If using puree, add it after pressure cooking the lentils.
- Other leafy greens like - Kale, Methi (fenugreek), Swiss Chard and Bathua can be added instead of spinach.
- Garlic - 10 cloves might seem too much but it adds a lot of flavor. Feel free to adjust the quantity if you are worried about garlic breath.
- The dal is tempered twice. The final tempering (the spicy chili one) can be easily skipped.
- Palak Dal can be easily made gluten-free if you omit asafoetida or hing. For Vegan recipe, replace ghee with oil in the final tempering.