Dal Palak Recipe - Spinach Dal

Punjabi Dal Palak is smoky spicy and super healthy dal recipe. Also known as spinach dal, because lentils means Dal and spinach is palak. Moong and spinach is cooked together and then tempered with ghee and spices. A nutritious protein rich dish to serve with roti chapati or rice.

Dal palak is easy to make tasty and healthy dish to include in everyday meals. You can serve the dal as dal rice or dal chapati meal, it tastes great any which way. This makes Perfect vegan low GI, Gluten-free healthy dish for the weeknight dinner.

Dal or lentil soup as they are known in western world is an essential food item in most of the Indian cuisine.

In Punjabi homes dal is considered a staple dish in our meals. Dal chawal or Dal Roti is considered a comfort meal in most Indian homes. We prepare a variety of Dal recipes all over India though method of preparation (mostly tempering or tadka) is different in different regions.

This Dal Palak Is:

• Gluten-free, vegetarian, protein rich healthy Lentil dish
• Can be made extra spicy or less spicy as per taste preference.
• You can make vegan spinach dal using this same recipe.
• No Onion No Garlic Dal Recipe

Ingredients for Dal Palak

Dal/ Lentils: I use 3 lentils in making this dal palak recipe. Split moong dal which is also known as broken moong. This is whole moong with husk but split into two. Second Dal I add is yellow pigeon pea also known as toor dal as well as chana dal.

You can make it with just moong dal if you do not want to use mixed dals. 

Spinach/Palak: Fresh spinach leaves. If you can't find fresh spinach you can use frozen spinach

Tomatoes: Fresh tomatoes work best. But again if you don't have fresh canned chopped tomatoes can be used.

Ginger: grated

2 green chillies: chopped optionalSeasonings & Spices: Salt to taste, Kashmiri Red Chilli powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida hing, Dried Red chilli, Coarsely ground chilli powder.

Instant Pot Spinach Dal

Usually, in Indian households, the dal palak/spinach dal is made in a pressure cooker, but you can make dal palak in the Instant pot as well.

1. Heat ghee in the saute mode and add grated ginger, a pinch of asafoetida/ hing (optional) chopped green chilli, chopped tomato, and saute them for 3-4 minutes on low.
2. Now add the spinach and washed and rinsed dal along with salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and water.
3. Cover IP with lid and switch on the pressure cooking mode and pressure cook on low pressure for 15 minutes.
4. Allow the instant pot to cool naturally till pressure escapes and its ready to serve.
5. For final tadka heat a tablespoon of ghee/oil in a pan and then switch off the heat. Add 1 teaspoon of coarsely ground red chilli powder and immediately pour it on cooked dal palak.

Recipe Notes : Punjabi Moong Dal Palak

• Punjabi moong Dal palak recipe is usually made with moong dal (split moong dal) and palak (spinach). Some people make it with skinned moong (yellow dal) or Split pigeon peas (toor dal).
• Usually in Punjabi dal recipes tadka of onion tomato and ginger garam masala is added. But tadka for this moong dal palak is slightly different and very simple.
• I like to add a slight variation in terms of dal used. I add a very small portion of toor dal/arhar dal and chana dal/gram dal in the recipe. This enhances the taste considerably.

Since dal palak is made with lentils and vegetables that make it quite healthy meal option. It is gluten-free naturally and low GI recipe and suitable for diabetics. You can enjoy it as a soup or Dal chawal for a wholesome hearty meal. It tastes great with chapati or naan.

Meal Prep for the Dal Palak

You can wash dal and clean and chop spinach and tomato, grated ginger previous night and keep it in the fridge. This will reduce the cooking time since dals will be nicely soaked. For the dinner all you have to do is pressure cook dal which takes two minutes to take it out of the refrigerator and place it on the heat.

The tadka for dal palak is easy and takes another 2 minutes. SO effective time while cooking is 4-5 minutes only.

How to Store Leftover Dal 

You can store leftover Dal palak in refrigerator for 2 days. When You want to reheat just pop into microwave for 3-4 minutes and hot bowl of dal is ready to be relished. 

How To Freeze:

Dals are an extremely freezer friendly meal. Dal palak can be frozen as it is. Make sure to use a glass container which is freezer friendly and microwave friendly.

While serving you can just take it out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator for few hours to thaw and reheat as usual. Dal will taste better and creamier this way. You can freeze dal palak for up to 6-8 weeks in the freezer so make sure to mark the date of storage.

If you are making a batch specifically for freezing you can cook it till 75% done. In this method no need to thaw. Just remove the lid and place the container in the microwave and cook on high power for 10 minutes.  An incredibly delicious and healthy Spinach dal is ready.

More Such Recipes

• Yellow moong dal Tadka

• Punjabi Sabut moong dal

• dal fry Recipe 

• Sabut Masoor dal 

• Palak Pakoda 

• Cream of Spinach Soup

• Slow cooked Dal Makhani in Pressure cooker 

• Healthy Stove Top Dal Makhani 

• Lagar Wali Dal

• Gujarati Dal Recipe

• Dal Fry Recipe
  

Punjabi Dal Palak Recipe - How to make Punjabi Dal Palak

Punjabi Dal Palak is smoky spicy and super healthy dal recipe. Also known as spinach dal the dal palak recipe is an easy way to add more health quotient to your everyday Indian meals. Tempering or tadka is what makes this super delicious.

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian, indian cuisine, punjabi

Author: Rekha Kakkar

Ingredients

• 100 g moong dal split
• 25 g Yellow pigeon pea dal Toor Dal
• 25 g chana dal
• 100 g tomato chopped
• 250 g spinach chopped and cleaned/washed
• 2 green chillies chopped optional
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Red Chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger grated
• 1 pinch asafoetida hing
• 1 Dried Red chilli
• 1tsp Red chilli powder Coarsely ground chilli powder

Instructions

• In a pressure cooker, add washed and soaked dals, spinach, grated ginger and 2.5 cups of water. Also add salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, chopped green chilli and a teaspoon of Kashmiri red chilli powder.
• Now pressure cook it for 2-3 whistles or 15-20 minutes depending on quantity and your pressure cooker. Allow the pressure cooker to cool naturally.
• Open the pressure cooker and heat 1bsp ghee in a tadka pan, add a pinch of asafoetida/hing and 1tsp red chilli powder and dried red chilli.
• Immediately transfer this hot tadka over simmering dal and palak. Mix well and serve it hot with chapati/phulka/paratha or rice .

Notes

How to Make Instant Pot Dal Palak /Spinach dal

1. Heat ghee in the saute mode and add grated ginger, a pinch of asafoetida/ hing (optional) chopped green chilli, chopped tomato, and sauce them for 3-4 minutes on low.
2. Now add the spinach and washed dal along with salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and water.
3. Cover it with lid and switch on the pressure cooking mode and pressure cook on low for 15 minutes.
4. Allow the instant pot to cool naturally till pressure escapes and its ready to serve.
5. For smokiness you can heat a tablespoon go ghee/oil and then switch off the heat and add 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder and immediately add it to cook dal.