palak dal – spinach with lentils

spinach and dal go very well together. in india we do add veggies to dal and spinach dal or palak dal is one of those recipes.

there are many ways of making palak dal. this recipe is a very simple and easy one and won’t take much of your time. also this recipe is without onion and garlic.

i have adapted this recipe from a friend who would make sumptous food. being a meditator, he would never add onion, garlic and chilies to his food. whilst once at his home, he made this dal for us. i thought the dal would be very bland…. no onions and no garlic…. but i was wrong…..

the dal was sooooo good. it had the subtle aroma of ghee tempered with cumin and a gingery taste plus creamy and soft. onions and garlic have a strong flavor and taste. i am sure this dal would also taste great with onions and garlic added to it.

there are no heavy spices like garam masala added to this dal. it goes well with basmati rice and even soft phulkas or chapatis.

our friend used to make this dal basically with 2 lentils:
1: tuvar dal/spilt pigeon peas and
2: masoor dal/pink lentil.  

i have also added some chopped green chilies and red chili powder to the dal. the chilies just enhance the flavor and taste of the dal without making it spicy or hot. for tempering you could use oil, but for better taste and flavor use ghee.

there is one more thing i would like to mention about this recipe. the final photos of this dal has been shot by me in the manual mode. i know some of you won’t know what i am talking about…. and its alright…. just enjoy the photos

i love photography and i am learning on my own to shoot in the manual mode. my previous photos were all shot in automatic or semi automatic mode. there is so much to learn in photography and i am exploring this art slowly slowly.

this is my first post with the pics shot in the manual mode. the rest of the posts that will come after this will have both automatic and well as manually shot pics. i hope you liked these pics.

so without more talks, lets start:

1: pick and rinse the dal. pressure cook the lentils with turmeric for 4-5 minutes till the lentils become soft and mushy.

2: wash the spinach leaves. chop them finely and keep aside.

3: in a pan or kadai, heat ghee and fry the cumin seeds.

4: when the cumin seeds sizzle, add the chopped ginger. fry for a minute.

5: add green chilies and fry for half a minute.

6: add the chopped spinach.

7: now add red chili powder and asafoetida. mix these with the spinach and saute the palak for 7-8 minutes stirring in between

8: its time now to mash the dal. the green you see in the dal is the spinach. i was using the same spoon for sauting the palak an mashing dal….. one spoon less for me to wash

9: when the spinach softens and becomes dry like shown in the pic below.

10: then its time to add the mashed dal.

11: mix the cooked dal with the spinach. if you want a very thick dal with chapatis, you will stop at this stage. at salt… mix well and simmer the dal for a 1-2 minutes. keep stirring continously. if you want a creamy, smooth dal then continue further.

12: add water to the dal. the quantity of water will depend on how much thick or thin you want the dal to be.

13: add salt and mix it with the dal. simmer for a 6-7 minutes.

14: serve the palak dal hot with rice or chapatis and a side vegetable dish or salad or raita.