Daal Palak recipe
This daal palak is an authentic north Indian style dal palak curry recipe. In addition to being healthy and super easy on your digestive system, this palak recipe is earthy, creamy, spicy, and umami altogether.
Ingredients
- ½ cup Chana dal (split chickpea lentil soaked for 30 minutes)
- ¼ cup Dhuli moong dal (split and skinned green gram
- ¼ cup Masoor dal (split red lentil)
- 3 cups chopped spinach
- 2 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1 ½ tablespoon double concentrated tomato paste or 2 fresh tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon cumin( divided)
- 3 tablespoon Ghee or vegetable oil( divided)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili (optional)
- 2 dry whole chili (optional)
Instructions
Prepping and blanching spinach:
- Wash the spinach thoroughly to remove all the dirt and dust particles. Then remove the stem and retain only leaves. Make a bunch of the leaves and chop them.
- Blanching the spinach: In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Then add a little bit of salt. Once the water starts to boil, put the spinach into it. Let it cook for 30 seconds or until the spinach turns dark green. Have a bowl of ice-cold water close by. When the spinach is blanched, immediately remove the spinach from the boiling water using a slotted spoon and transfer it into the bowl of ice-cold water. Adding the spinach directly to the ice-cold water ceases the cooking process and prevents the chlorophyll and other nutrients from denaturing. If you think that the ice-cold water with the spinach has become warm. Just add more cold water or a few more ice cubes. Once the spinach has cooled down, strain the spinach through a strainer. And keep it aside.
Making masala and cooking the dal:
- If using an instant pot: Start the sauté mode in your instant pot. Set it at a high temperature for 5 minutes. Add ghee or vegetable oil or a combination of both. Now add the cumin seeds to the ghee. Ghee will get hot enough to sizzle the cumin seeds even in the preheating mode. As the cumin seeds start to sizzle add the ginger and garlic, followed by the onions. Stir and let them sauté till they start to get golden brown. The onions will become golden brown by the time the Instant pot is preheated.
- Quickly add in the spices; salt, turmeric, chili powder and give it a quick stir. Add ¼ cup of water to prevent the spices from burning. Now add the tomato paste and mix.
- If you are using tomato puree, you do not need to add water. Just add the tomato puree after the spices.
- Cook the tomatoes till all the moisture is lost and it starts to leave the oil on the sides of the pot.
- Now, go ahead and add the washed moong dal and masoor dal followed by the soaked chana dal. Mix all the lentils with the masala. Add 3 cups of warm water and mix well. Close the lid. Cancel the sauté mode. Turn on pressure cook mode on the custom setting. Set it for 3 minutes at a high-temperature setting. Let the pressure release naturally.
- If using a pressure cooker: In a pressure cooker, heat ghee. When the ghee is hot add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds sizzle, add ginger-garlic and onion. Sauté them at medium-low speed until they become golden brown. Add the spices followed by water and tomato paste. When the tomato paste starts to leave oil, add the lentils and mix well. Add 3 cups plus ¼ cup of water and close the lid. Increase the heat to high and let it cook till 1 whistle. After the first whistle, reduce the flame to the lowest and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes before turning off the flame. If you get another whistle between that, just turn off the flame. Let the pressure release naturally.
Combining spinach:
- When the pressure has released, open the lid of the instant pot and add the blanched spinach leaves. Mix well to incorporate spinach leaves evenly in the dal. Take care to be gentle, we do not want to mash the dal.
Making chhonk for the dal palak:
- For making chhonk, take a Tadka frying pan or a small frying pan. Add a tablespoon of ghee to it. As the ghee heats, be quick and add the cumin seeds followed by 2 red chilis and ½ teaspoon of Kashmiri chili powder. Give it a quick stir and add it to the cooked dal palak. Mix well and cover. Let dal palak absorb all the flavors of the chhonk. Serve hot with roti or rice.
Notes
Quick notes
- If you are not using a pressure cooker, but a standard pot with a lid, cooking dal for this recipe will take about 20 minutes of simmering in a pot, till it becomes tender and creamy.
- Kashmiri chili powder is a very mild Indian chili powder, which is mostly added for its flavor and color rather than hotness. If you do not have Kashmiri chili powder, divide the total amount of chili powder into two parts. Add half in the initial masala and rest in the tempering.
- While preparing masala, when you add powdered spices, have water ready by your side as the dry spices can burn very quickly. Give it a quick stir and add water.
- The same is true for chhonk. Hot oil extracts maximum flavor from the dry spices. No amount of simmering can extract that amount of flavor. But the drawback is that they can also burn very quickly. So, move fast when making a chhonk.
- Dal palak is best served hot with roti or rice. The leftover dal palak can be stored in an air-tight container and refrigerated for 2-3 days.
- The flavors are more pronounced the next day. I especially love to eat it the next day. When you are want to eat it, just give fresh tempering or simply microwave for quick meal prep.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition
Calories: 99kcal
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