With the help of some frozen spinach, I was able to make this simple dal entirely from ingredients we already had on hand. It didn't take too much thought or effort. And the inclusion of both legumes and leafy greens means that it's reasonably nutritionally complete as well.
I managed to make a basic tomato biryani and a quick papad and yogurt curry to accompany it and that made for a very nice dinner. The dal itself was not a stand-out flavour-wise, but it did at least give us something to hang the rest of the meal off of.
Palak Urad Dal
Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer
Ingredients
- 1 c. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/urad dal)
- 4 c. water
- 450g chopped spinach
- 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 4 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies, stems removed
- 2-3 slices fresh ginger (5cm x 2cm x 3mm)
- 2 Tbsp. ghee1
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds
- 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
Directions
- Rinse the lentils well.
- Drain and add the 4 c. of water to the lentils.
- Bring to a boil.
- Discard and foam that forms on the surface of the water, then add the spinach and turmeric.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender (20-25 minutes).
- Meanwhile, add the fenugreek seeds, garlic, chilies, and ginger to a molcajete and grind into a slightly gritty paste.
- Melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
- Add the cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-20 seconds.
- Add the paste from the molcajete and cook until browned (~2 minutes).
- When the lentils are cooked, add the fried paste mixture to the dal along with the cilantro and salt and simmer, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.
1 If you need to make this curry vegan, try swapping out the ghee for oil. Personally, I would probably default to either coconut or mustard oil, but a neutral option like canola, corn, or peanut would also work. Back
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