Name: Palak Dal
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min

Palak / Spinach is good source of Vitamin A and dals / lentils are good source of proteins. Palak Dal / Spinach Lentil is a combo of both and so it is a very healthy dish. This recipe belongs to Indian Cuisine and very popular in central and western parts of India.

Palak Dal is a easy to make recipe and a relatively common side dish. The taste blends well with hot Indian Bread or Rice. Even it can be consumed as a tasty veg soup.

Palak / Spinach used to be a winter vegetable in India, but now it is available throughout the year.

Lets cook this tasty dal together.

INGREDIENTS

*1 cup-240ml; *1 tablespoon – 15ml ; *1 teaspoon – 5ml ;

Spinach/Palak (chopped) – 1 cup
Yellow Lentils (Moong dal) – 1/4 cup
Tomato – 1 small size
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Dried red chili – 1 piece
Bay leaf – 1 piece
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Chili powder – 1/2 tsp
Ginger paste – 1/2 tsp
Water – 2 cup
Sugar – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp or as per your taste
Ghee – 1tbsp.
Oil – 1 tbsp.

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 20 mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 2 People

Equipment

Normal Pressure Cooker

Notes

1. I have used big size yellow lentil (moong dal), which is easily available in my locality. It takes up to 2 whistles of a regular pressure cooker to cook.

2. Wash the moong dal before using it for any dish, wash them for at least 3-4 times. Otherwise it will create foam during cooking. But before washing, dry roast it on a preheated pan(without oil).

3. There are varieties of moong dal is available in market. Some of them are small in size and some of are large. Choose according the availability of you area. They takes different time to get cooked.

4. Cooking time of dals depends on the water of that area as well. So keep those factor in mind during cooking.

5. I like my dal’s texture to be not so thick or thin. So I have used 2 cups of water into it. You can change the amount of water according to your requirement. But little thick dal in this dish tastes better as per my observation..

6. Hand blender is totally optional, But I haven’t used it here. If you usually do, use it after 1st whistle. If you are not using pressure cooker, in that case you may need a blender to blend the dal.

7. I love the flavor of raw ingredients in dal and that’s why I have not use any garam masala. But if you like the smell and flavor of garam masala, then add 1/4 tsp of it at the final stage.

8. I normally use a small pressure cooker and roast or fry anything separately. So I have roasted the masala and palak / spinach in a fry pan and then mixed it with the moong dals in a pressure cooker. You can make entire recipe in one single pressure cooker as well if you are comfortable with it.

9. Don’t boil the spinach or palak before using in the recipe. Just roast it with the spices and cook it with yellow lentils or moong dal.

Keyword vegetarian

How to make Palak Dal

Step 1: Firstly wash the spinach very well. After that chop it. We need to chop it roughly. Similarly chop the tomato.

Step 2: Here we will take a fry pan and will heat it. Now put the yellow lentils in the pan and fry it for 2-3 minutes. Roast it without oil. Don’t over roast it. Over roasting ruins the texture and taste of the dish.

Step 3: Now put 1 tbsp. of oil in a preheated pan, then add 1 tsp of cumin seeds, dried red chili and bay leaf. Wait for the crackling of the cumin seeds.

Step 4: At this point, we will add chopped tomatoes and ginger paste into it. Fry it for 1 minute. During the roasting of tomato add little salt into it. Salt helps the tomato to get cooked faster.

Step 5: After that we have to add spices (Cumin powder, turmeric powder, sugar, chili powder, salt) and mix them using a spatula.

Step 6: It’s time to add chopped spinach / palak into the fry pan. Then we will roast it for 4-5 minutes on low flame. Roast the palak properly, otherwise the dish will have a raw smell of palak.

Step 7: Now add the roasted and washed Moong dal into it and one more time mix them all together.

Step 8: All spices are ready, So take a normal pressure cooker. Now put 2 cups of water and wait for boiling. When it starts boiling add all the roasted spices into the cooker.

Step 9: Then put the lid on it and cook for 2 whistle. Put the pressure cooker on low flame, it help the palak dal to get cooked properly.

Step 10: Switch off the stove, wait for 5 minutes to reduce the steam pressure of the cooker. Then open the lid, add ghee / clarified butter and gently stir it.

Step 11: We are now ready to serve Palak Dal to our friends and family. Serve it with hot jeera rice, chapati, paratha or whatever you want to eat with.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Palak Dal good for health?

Palak contains Vitamin A, which is very helpful for a healthy eye. It is healthy and full of nutrition.

You can have it as a palak juice, palak paratha, palak ki sabji, palak paneer etc.

Can we eat palak daily?

Definitely you can, Palak juice is very popular among health conscious people. Additionally there are varieties of recipes around the palak.

Follow my blogs for a handful of palak recipes.

How many calories does Palak Dal have?

Well, lets not calculate calorie and focus on the health benefit of this dish.

Both Palak and Dal have really good nutritional value, which are very beneficial for our health. Adding leafy vegetables to our diet is always recommended by doctors.

How much nutritious is in spinach?

Every green leafy vegetable has numerous health benefits for our body. Palak is no exception.

It is very helpful for our eye health.

Palak Dal