Dal Palak Recipe | Spinach Dal | Indian Lentil & Spinach Curry

 Dal Palak or Spinach Dal is a very simple yet delicious Indian dish made with lentils, spinach, and seasoned with few spices. Learn how to make this flavorful dal palak curry, North Indian style with this easy, step-by-step recipe with pictures. 

There is never a dearth of curries in Indian homes. Be it in the form of dal | dahl, or a coconut-based, tomato-based, or a yogurt-based curry, you name it, and you will easily find something to match your needs!

This spinach dal is just one of those. The type of dish that keeps your tummy and soul satisfied. I have just two words to describe this simple spinach dahl recipe – easy & delicious! This lentil curry dal goes down well with toddlers too. I keep it minimally spiced as my kids often enjoy a bowl of rice and dal.

Today’s recipe is the North Indian style of making palak dal tadka. There is also a South Indian palak dal recipe, in Andhra Pradesh to be specific, and it is known as palakura pappu or spinach pappu. Pappu is dal in the Telugu language. That recipe uses tamarind, other than that there isn’t much variation.

When I talk about dal or lentils, it is interesting to know that lentils are not only used in savory dishes in Indian cooking, but the use of lentils is quite popular in desserts too. Sweets like moong dal halwa, puran poli (flatbread stuffed with a sweet lentil filling) or doce (Goan gram fudge) are popular and much-loved desserts.

Dal is so versatile. Either make it for an everyday meal, which in fact is so common in Indian households, or you can also make a party worthy dal dish like lasooni dal tadka, dal makhani, dal maharani, dal fry, etc to name a few.

The same goes for spinach too, or palak as it is known in Hindi. There are so many palak recipes in my repertoire that I can never ever get bored of. Aloo palak,  palak rice, moong dal palak sabji, palak paratha are some of my weekly rotation meals. Recipes like palak paneer, palak poori, palak shorba are made when we want to indulge. I also love including spinach in snacks like croquettes or in sandwiches. It always goes down well with the kids.

Ingredients needed for Spinach dal

For this dal and spinach curry, you will need

• Lentils: I’ve used toor/tuvar/arhar dal, a yellow lentil but you can use any kind of lentil for this recipe. Chana dal, split moong dal which are petite yellow lentils, red lentils (split masoor dal) to make palak masoor dal recipe, etc. They all work great. You can also mix and match a combination of lentils.
• Spinach/palak greens: I’ve used baby spinach in this recipe, you could use regular spinach as well.
• Aromatics: Onions, ginger, and garlic, which is a must for most Indian dishes
• Fresh tomatoes
• Other basic Indian spices like cumin seeds, dried red chillies, turmeric, and red chilli or cayenne pepper.
• Oil:  I’ve kept it vegan by using oil. But feel free to use ghee instead.

This dal palak curry comes together in 3 easy steps

You can make this delicious Indian spinach and lentil curry in 3 easy steps, though you will find each and every step explained in detail in the pictorial illustrations.

• Cook the dal until it is soft and mushy. 
• Cook the spinach with a tempering of cumin seeds, asafoetida, chillies, ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and spices.
• Finally, combining the cooked yellow lentils with spinach. Everything is simmered for a few minutes. And lo behold you have a beautiful, comforting, and hearty dish. Enjoy it as a soup, stew or alongside some rice.

You can cook everything in one pot too, either in the pressure cooker or the Instant Pot. If I do it this way, I prefer stirring in the chopped spinach, in the end, to avoid overcooking it.

If you want to eat spinach dal as a sabji (a semi-dry veggie preparation) with a flatbread like chapathi or roti, then skip adding any water once you mix the dal with spinach. Give it a good mix and serve as is.  Add water only to thin it out if you want to serve it as a stew or curry to be served with rice.

Well, this dal palak is so good, I simply enjoy it a spinach dal soup sometimes, it is so healthy, nourishing, filled with proteins and fiber.

Variations of this recipe

You can add interesting variations to this spinach dal recipe.

Pumpkin: Now, that pumpkins are in season, try adding some to make pumpkin and spinach dhal.

Other greens: You can also swap out the spinach with other greens like fenugreek, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, etc.

How to make dal palak – Step by step instructions

Step 1: Rinse and soak the dal

Rinse 1/2 cup of toor dal well under running water until the water runs clear, then soak it in sufficient water for about 30 minutes.

Step 2: Pressure cook the dal

How to cook toor dal? Transfer the drained dal to a pressure cooker. Add oil and about 1/2 teaspoon salt. (Adding oil prevents frothing and spilling from the pressure cooker). Pressure cook the dal with about 1 & 3/4 cups of water, for 2 whistles on high heat. Then lower the heat to medium and cook for another 5 minutes. Switch off the heat and set the cooker aside. Once the cooker depressurizes, open the lid and mash the dal with the back of a spoon for a smooth consistency. You may leave it as it is if you prefer it that way.

Step 3: First tempering

Heat 2 tablespoons oil or ghee in a heavy-bottomed pot, add 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds. Once it crackles add 1/2 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, pinch of hing, 2 to 3 slit green chillies, and 2 to 3 dried red chillies.

Step 4: Saute onions and tomatoes

Add 1 cup chopped onions, sauté until it turns translucent.

Next, add chopped tomatoes (about 1 medium tomato), sauté until it turns mushy and you see oil oozing from the sides of the pot.

Step 5: Add spinach

Add 3 cups of chopped spinach, stir-fry until it wilts, about a minute.

Step 6: Add spices

Add 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and red chilli powder each, sauté for another 30 seconds.

Step 7: Add the cooked dal

Now, add the cooked dal, and give everything a good mix.

Step 8: Adjust the consistency of the dal

Add about 1 cup of water or as per desired consistency, bring to a boil. Check for seasonings and adjust accordingly. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Drizzle some lemon juice and mix well.

Step 9: Second tempering (optional but recommended)

Prepare the second tempering by heating 1/2 tablespoon oil or ghee in a small pan, add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, when it crackles, add 2 dried Kashmiri chillies. Switch off the heat, add 1/4 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder. Mix well with the oil and pour it over the dal immediately. Mix it well with the dal, and serve hot with rice or any other flatbread.

Notes

• Adjust the spice levels by reducing or increasing the green chillies and red chilli powder.
• You can add more or less spinach.
• For a more garlicky dal, add some finely sliced garlic in the second tempering.
• You may also add some garam masala along with turmeric and red chilli powder if you like.
• If you do not have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, cook the lentils in a regular pot with sufficient water, at least 2 inches above the lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the lentils are soft and mushy, stirring occasionally in between. You may need to add more water if it gets too thick. This will take about 30-45 minutes.

★ If you try this spinach dal recipe, I would love to hear from you! I’d appreciate it if you could rate and leave a review below in the comments. Your reviews help others know the recipe better too. Feel free to share your feedback and suggestions at [email protected] Thanks so much 🙂 

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