Looking for an easy lentil side dish in under 30 minutes? Try this protein-rice and nutritious Spinach dal!
This Spinach dal recipe is made with toor dal(yellow split pea) and spinach. It’s a simple and quick dal recipe that you can make on your busy days as well, and eat it with plain steamed rice, multi-grain bread, jeera rice, ragi mudde, quinoa, or millets.
We love our south Indian sambar but crave simpler meals sometimes, like this dal. It requires fewer ingredients to make and tastes delicious at the same time.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup or 200g of toor dal (split yellow pigeon pea), rinsed
1 box of baby spinach, roughly chopped
2.5 cups of water
1 large tomato, diced
1 large onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 green chilies, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon of tamarind pulp
Salt to taste
For tadka/seasoning:
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
A pinch of asafoetida or hing
2 dried red chilies, split into halves
One sprig of curry leaves
Directions:
Pressure cooking: Into a pressure cooker, add rinsed toor dal, spinach, onion, tomato, garlic, tamarind pulp, turmeric powder, green chilies, and water, and pressure cook until the lentils are well cooked(4-5 whistles). Then turn off the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.
If the lentils that you use take longer to cook, soak them for an hour before cooking them.
Once the pressure releases, mash the cooked ingredients well and adjust the consistency of the dal by adding water if necessary. Stir in salt to taste and allow spinach dal to boil on medium heat for a couple of minutes, then turn off the heat.
Tadka/seasoning: Heat cooking oil in a small tadka pan. Once the oil is hot enough, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow them to pop and sizzle. Then add a pinch of hing, dried red chilies, and curry leaves. Turn off the heat and pour this tadka into the cooked dal.
Mix well, serve, and enjoy healthy and delicious spinach dal with plain steamed rice.
Let me know if you tried this recipe by tagging a picture of your preparation on my Instagram @swaadista and using #swaadistarecipes.
Happy cooking, happy eating!
Swaadista 