Wash the toor dal (yellow pigeon peas) and add this to a pressure cooker.

Add salt and water and close the pressure cooker with the lid and safety valve in place and cook the dal for about 8 to 10 minutes or about 3 to 4 whistles.

After 10 minutes of cooking, switch off the cooker and wait for the cooker to cool down.

Meanwhile wash the spinach and dry the leaves (you may use a paper towel) and keep aside.

Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and keep aside.

Peel the onion and slice finely, keep aside in a different bowl (apart from spinach and tomatoes).

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.When the cumin seeds are fried, add the red chilies and fry for a few seconds.

Add the sliced onion and saute for few minutes until the onions turn transparent or lightly browned in color.

Add the salt and ginger garlic paste, and saute for another 2 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes and spinach leaves and saute for another 3 to 4 minutes and then cover the pan and cook in low heat for another five minutes or until the tomatoes and spinach leaves are cooked enough.

As the tomatoes and spinach leaves are cooked and soft, switch off the stove.

As soon as the pressure cooker is cooled, open the cooker and see if the dal (pigeon peas) is cooked enough and soft.You can gently mash the dal with a ladle if needed.

Add the tomato onion spinach mixture to the cooked dal in the cooker and mix everything well (If you have used a small cooker and if your pan is big enough to hold all contents, you can also add the dal to the spinach tomato onion mixture and make the dish in the pan, if you wish. It works both the ways).

Mix all contents well together and add all the spices to the mixture, and stir well.

At this point, you should add more water to the dish if you need more gravy. If there is enough water left after cooking the dal, which is enough to make the gravy for the dish, you may not need to add more water. However if there is no water left or if the water is less to make the gravy, feel free to add little more water to the mixture just enough for the gravy.

Turn on the stove and cook in low to medium heat for another 2 to 3 minutes so the contents will blend together with the spices. Masala spinach dal curry or cheera/keerai parippu curry with garam masala is ready to serve! Enjoy the dal curry as a side dish to rice or as a side dish with chapathi or dosa for breakfast, lunch or dinner as you wish!