Palak Dal – Spinach Dal

In these times of lock downs, stay at home orders by our government and use whatever you can lay your hands on, I finally laid my greedy paws on a bunch of Palak (Spinach). Unfortunately, half the bunch was unusable. This was no time to waste food (actually, it’s never good to waste food), which is why when I realized I could not cook palak by itself, as a bhaji (vegetable), I decided to add it to Dal.  I’ll have you know; I’ve never made Palak Dal before; this was a first for me. I used simple ingredients available in my pantry/fridge and whipped this up. It turned out so good, I simply had to share this recipe with you all. Back to the basics! Here’s a simple recipe for Palak Dal.

Ingredients:

¾th cup tur dal, soaked for 30 minutes and washed

½ bunch palak (spinach), wash and chop roughly

2 tablespoons oil

¾ teaspoon turmeric powder

1½ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

Salt to taste

Tadka (Tempering) Ingredients:

¼ teaspoon (about 2 pinches) hing (asafoetida)

8 to 10 curry leaves

2 dry red Kashmiri chillies, break each into two pieces

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

¾ teaspoon cumin seeds

1½ teaspoon red chili powder (I used MDH Deghi Mirch Powder)

6-7 tablespoons clarified butter (pure ghee / sajuk tup)

Method:

1.    Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder and sauté until ginger-garlic loses its rawness.

2.    Add the dal, palak and salt to taste.

3.    Add adequate water and pressure cook for two whistles. Then lower heat and cook for 3 to 5 minutes more.

4.    Take the cooker off the stove and allow the pressure to release in its own time.

5.    Open the cooker, empty the palak-dal into a vessel. Keep aside.

6.    In a kadai (wok), heat clarified butter. Add hing, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry patta, and dry red Kashmiri chilies. When the seeds and chillies begin to splutter, lower the flame and add the red chilli powder. Cook for 5 to 10 seconds.

7.    Carefully pour the tadka into the palak-dal. Put the dal back on the stove, check season and adjust if needed. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.

8.    Serve hot with steamed rice and mango pickle.

Chef Notes:

1.    I used tur dal, but moong dal will work just as beautifully for this recipe.

2.    Ideally, I would have preferred to add tiny bits of ginger and garlic to the tempering, but I had none in my pantry, hence improvised and sautéed ginger-garlic paste before adding the dal and palak.

3.    Feel free to adjust the clarified butter content. I hate being stingy with it.

4.    If you do not want a spicy dal, please pat out the seeds from the Kashmiri chillies before using them. I did that as mum and dad cannot handle spicy food.

5.    Use fresh curry leaves if you have them in your pantry (nothing beats the aroma of fresh curry leaves). As fresh curry leaves were not available to me, I opted for dry curry leaves.

6.    Do not allow the chilli powder in the tadka to burn. Also, adjust the chilli powder to suit your palate.

7.    You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.