Red lentil spinach dal curry or spinach dal with red lentils is simply delicious, healthy and nutritious dal curry made with spinach leaves and red lentils which is also known as masoor dal!
This dish is vegetarian as well as vegan too.
Spinach dal is popularly known as dal palak in India, where it is usually served as a curry or side dish with Indian breads like chapathi, poori etc or with rice.
Spinach dal can be made using fresh spinach leaves (palak leaves) and toor dal or moong dal but this easy dal palak recipe is made using fresh baby spinach leaves and also masoor dal.
I also have this masala spinach curry, which is another delicious Indian spinach curry with dal!
Masoor dal is red lentils popularly used in Indian cooking.
I have used masoor dal in recipes like this cabbage dal with masoor dal and also this onion sambar recipe.
Uncooked masoor dal is slightly orange red in color and hence they are known as red lentils, I guess.
However, once cooked, masoor dal looks bright yellow in color and it resembles cooked yellow moong dal.
You can learn more about cooking red lentils here.
In fact, masoor dal may be used in many recipes that call for yellow moong dal or toor dal (yellow split pigeon peas), like in other dal recipes or sambar recipes.
This easy dal palak or spinach dal recipe using masoor dal and baby spinach is made in a pressure cooker over stove top.
It is perfect, easy and delicious, creamy dal you can quickly make on busy weeknight dinners or anytime you want a delicious and healthy dal that’s super easy to make from scratch at home!
So let us see how to easily prepare this Indian dal palak or spinach dal at home using masoor dal and baby spinach leaves.
How to make spinach dal or dal palak at home using red lentils/masoor dal?
We use the following ingredients to make easy, delicious dal palak at home.
Ingredients to make spinach dal
baby spinach leaves 2 cups (may use little more or less leaves as you like)
masoor dal 1.5 cups
salt as needed
turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
onions 1 large sized peeled and sliced
tomatoes 2 medium sized sliced small or medium
ginger garlic paste 1 tablespoon
water 4 cups
for seasoning:
oil 1 tablespoon
cumin seeds ½ teaspoon
red chilies broken 2 to 3
minced onions 1 tablespoon
Step by step instructions
Wash the spinach leaves and dal very well and add to a large sized pressure cooker (use at least 6 quart pressure cooker).
Add sliced onions and tomatoes to the pressure cooker.
Add water, salt, turmeric powder and also ginger garlic paste & mix everything well.
Close the pressure cooker with lid and safety valve in position, cook in high until the steam begins to release. Once the steam comes, reduce the heat to low and cook for about 5 to 6 minutes.
Once the cooking is done, switch off the stove and wait for the pressure cooker to cool down.
Meanwhile let us prepare the seasoning. To make the seasoning, heat oil in a pan and lightly fry the cumin seeds.
Also add the broken chilies and minced onions, lightly fry. Now the seasoning is ready, keep this aside.
Once the pressure cooker is cooled, carefully open the lid and see if the dal is cooked and soft.
Mix everything well. If desired, you may add a little more water for the preferred consistecy of dal.
Keep in mind that the dal will further thicken as it cools down, so you may add more water later, if needed.
Add the prepared seasoning to the prepared dal palak curry, gently mix in.
Serve the delicious dal palak with rice or Indian breads like chapathi, poori etc as you like!
More dal recipes in this blog:
parippu curry Kerala recipe on stove top
More spinach (palak) recipes:
restaurant style palak paneer recipe
palak paneer without cream or tomatoes
spinach eggplant curry with yogurt
baked spinach pasta with cellentani pasta (no boil pasta recipe)
spinach potato curry (aloo palak curry)
spaghetti rigati pasta recipe with spinach and chickpeas
Below you can get the recipe for Indian spinach dal using masoor dal in detail.
Red Lentil Spinach Dal Curry – Indian Dal Palak With Masoor Dal
Ingredients
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves may use little more or less leaves as you like
- 1.5 cups masoor dal
- salt as needed
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 large sized onion peeled and sliced
- 2 medium sized tomatoes sliced small or medium
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 4 cups water
for seasoning:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3 red chilies broken
- 1 tablespoon minced onions
Instructions
- Wash the spinach leaves and dal very well and add to a large sized pressure cooker (use at least 6 quart pressure cooker).
- Add sliced onions and tomatoes to the pressure cooker.
- Add water, salt, turmeric powder and also ginger garlic paste & mix everything well.
- Close the pressure cooker with lid and safety valve in position, cook in high until the steam begins to release. Once the steam comes, reduce the heat to low and cook for about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Once the cooking is done, switch off the stove and wait for the pressure cooker to cool down.
- Meanwhile let us prepare the seasoning. To make the seasoning, heat oil in a pan and lightly fry the cumin seeds.
- Also add the broken chilies and minced onions, lightly fry. Now the seasoning is ready, keep this aside.
- Once the pressure cooker is cooled, carefully open the lid and see if the dal is cooked and soft.
- Mix everything well. If desired, you may add a little more water for the preferred consistecy of dal.
- Keep in mind that the dal will further thicken as it cools down, so you may add more water later, if needed.
- Add the prepared seasoning to the prepared dal palak curry, gently mix in.
- Serve the delicious dal palak with rice or Indian breads like chapathi, poori etc as you like!
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