One of the easy and nutritious dal recipes is the spinach dal as it contains the spinach greens as well as the lentils, which together makes a healthy diet. Spinach is well known as Palak in Hindi. Many people are not huge fans of green’s and vegetables although it is one of the basic needs for our growth and development especially when it comes to kids. But when we mix spinach with lentils along with some tasty masala items, there is nothing as wonderful mouth smothering dish.
Spinach (palak) is the most benefiting food as it helps in weight loss and keeps your body fit. Palak is a low flab food, which will not have any effect on increasing body weight and best yet will not let that fat belly to show up. Palak is a best ingredient to include in everyone’s diet not only to lose weight but also to stay fit because it contains many proteins and vitamins, which give strength.
Palak and dal together contains a lot of vitamins and proteins such as Vitamins K, A, C, B2, B6. Some others are Calcium, Magnesium, foliate, potassium, dietary fiber, copper, zinc, and good amount of selenium, niacin and omega-3 fatty acids which is all present in palak alone and the lentils are as beneficial with its own share of vitamin and protein in it. If one food item can give so many health benefits then it looks like having palak in our diet is a smartest choice is not it.
Palak dal is an Indian cuisine recipe and it goes well along with roti, paranthas, jeera rice or even plain steamed rice. Below is the recipe on how to prepare the palak dal.
Ingredients
• 300g masoor dal
• 825 ml water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon chilli powder, coriander powder
• 500g spinach, rinsed, chopped
• 30g ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 medium tomato finely chopped
• ½ inch ginger and garlic grounded into a paste in a mortar
• 1 or 2 green chillies if required
Preparation
1. Soak the masoor dal in a bowl for about 15 minutes. Add turmeric, chilli powder and pressure cook until it is soft.
2. Once it is cool, mash lentils until it is soft and keep it aside.
3. Take a pan, heat ghee or butter and to that add little cumin seeds and fry until it is brown and fragrant.
4. To the cumin seeds, add the chopped onions and saute for a while until the onion turns soft as well.
5. Once the onions are soft, add the ginger and garlic paste along with the green chillies if you need the recipe to be spicy else the ground masala items itself provides enough spice. Saute until the raw aroma disappears maybe for about 20-30 seconds.
6. Add tomatoes and saute until they are soft.
7. To this add asafoetida, red chilli powder, coriander powder and mix well
8. Add the chopped spinach to this and saute until the leaves wilt. Carefully keep watch as spinach wilts too fast and it should not be overcooked if you let it for too long.
9. When the spinach is well cooked, add the cooked dal, which was made in the beginning and mix.
10. To make the mix a little watery, add 1 to 1.5 cup of water or as needed.
11. Add salt to this and simmer until the palak dal has the required consistency.
12. In the last add garam masala and stir well. Let it cook for a few minutes.
13. Serve hot with rotis and parathas.
Recipes of India | Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian 