Dal Palak (Spinach Dal)

Dal Palak is an Indian side dish made with spinach, lentils, spices and herbs. This traditional delicious, healthy and protein rich Spinach Dal is one of the many ways lentils are consumed in India. There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of hot spinach lentils served with rice, chapati, roti or bhakri.

Made with minimal amount of spices, this lemony Dal Palak is super flavorful, tasty, low-calorie, fiber and protein rich that suits everyone. It is gluten-free and vegan if you use oil. You can make this in a sauce pan or in a stovetop cooker or in the instant pot. This recipe also features a special tadka for extra flavor.

About Dal Palak

Dal Palak also known as Spinach Dal is a nutritious Indian curry where toor dal (split skinned pigeon peas) is cooked with fresh spinach, spices and herbs. It is a staple across India & is made in many ways. In fact everyone has their own way of cooking it.

Traditionally a lot of people would make Dal Palak simply by pressure cooking lentils, spices, onions, tomatoes and chopped spinach all at once in a pressure cooker and then just temper (tadka) it.

For some reason, my kids were never happy with the flavor of pressure cooked spinach with onions and tomatoes. Spinach being a delicate leafy green, cooks much faster than a lot of other greens and gets overcooked if you pressure cook it.

So I cook the lentils separately and then wilt the palak with the tempering ingredients. This method retains most of the buttery & sweet flavor of spinach. So you really don’t need a ton of ingredients to make it taste amazing.

In this post I share 2 recipes to make dal palak. I make the first recipe without tomatoes and the second one with tomatoes.

A lot of Indians avoid cooking tomatoes and spinach together due to the high oxalate content in both of them. So if you are on a low oxalate diet, always skip tomatoes in the dal palak.

At home, we believe moderate consumption of tomatoes with spinach is okay for healthy people so I do cook this combination but not very often. I use them together in this dal palak, sambar, palak paneer and a few more dishes.

Since I use tomato in the second recipe, I cut down the quantity of spinach. So both the ingredients, tomatoes and spinach are used in moderate quantities. This recipe is our absolute favorite, so delicious and super quick to make as there is no sautéing of onions or tomatoes and is also easy.

Ingredients & Substitutes

• Spinach/ Palak: Using fresh young/baby spinach is very important. Mature leaves impart metallic and bitter flavors while baby/young spinach give sweeter flavors. Remove the stalks and more mature leaves before using.
• Lentils: Traditionally toor dal aka split pigeon peas are used widely. However you can use any kind of skinned lentils for this recipe like red lentils (masoor dal), yellow mung lentils (moong dal) or Bengal gram (chana dal). I personally prefer to use 50/50 toor dal and moong dal or red lentils and moong dal. Mung dal produces a thicker and more flavorful dal. But do note that if you want to use chana dal, you need to soak them in hot water for at least an hour.
• Spices: You can use cumin seeds and mustard seeds (optional) to temper the dal palak. Remember not to use a lot of mustard, they can make your dal taste bitter. Ground spices like turmeric, red chili powder (can omit to use green chilies) and garam masala (optional) are used.
• Chilies: I love to use green chilies and dried red chilies for both heat and pungent flavors. Feel free to use what you have on hand. If you use green chilies, you may omit dried red chili and red chili powder or vice versa.
• Ginger and garlic : You may use both or any one of these fresh spices. They add a great aroma to your dal. Do not substitute with ground ginger or garlic because they don’t make substitutes.
• Hing/ asafetida is a gum resin and it adds a great flavor to the tempering. Most brands come with a small amount of gluten added to it. Look for a gluten-free version if you eat gluten-free or simply omit it.
• Fats – oil/ ghee : I prefer using ghee to temper my dal. It adds a more substantial flavor to your dish. But if you can’t eat you may use coconut oil, avocado oil or grapeseed oil.

More Dal recipes
Moong dal recipe
Chana dal
Masoor dal
Dal makhani
Dal fry recipe
Khichdi

Photo Guide

How to make Dal Palak without Tomatoes (Stepwise Photos)

You can find the instant pot instructions in the recipe card below.

1. Add half cup dal to a sauce pan or pressure cooker and rinse it well thrice. I use toor dal and moong dal in equal proportions. You can use any kind of dal you prefer including red lentils. The taste of dal palak enhances with the use of moong dal, so even a little is enough for that great taste. You can optionally add a deseeded and chopped small tomato.

If you do not own a cooker, you can soak the dal for about 15 mins to 1 hour to quicken the process. Bring the water to a rolling boil and reduce to medium, cook until soft and mushy. Add more hot water as you cook.

2. Pour 1¼ cups water to the cooker and secure the lid. Pressure cook on a medium heat for 2 whistles.

3. While the lentils cook, clean 100 grams spinach and rinse it well a few times. I usually spray some vinegar and sprinkle salt or baking soda over the leaves first. Leave them for 5 to 10 mins. Then rinse them off in a large pot a few times. This gets rid of all the pesticide residue and any bugs. Drain the leaves to a colander. When the water drains, chop them. You will need 2 cups chopped spinach. Also chop 1 to 2 green chilies and some ginger garlic. We need 1 tsp of the same.

4. When the pressure releases naturally, open the cooker and mash the dal slightly. You can skip mashing if you like to retain the same texture. It must be soft cooked and not remain al dente.

Tempering

5. Heat 1½ to 2 tablespoons ghee in a kadai/ pan. To keep the recipe vegan, you can use oil. When the ghee turns hot, add ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds and 1 to 2 broken dried red chilies (optional).

6. When the seeds begin to crackle, add 1 teaspoon chopped ginger garlic and 1 to 2 chopped green chilies. We are not using red chilli powder in this recipe so use enough green chilies for the heat. Saute just for a minute and add 1/8 teaspoon hing.

7. Add 2 cups chopped spinach/ palak. You can use more or less to suit your taste.

8. Saute for 3 to 4 mins on a medium heat until the spinach wilts and cooks through.

9. Add the cooked dal, 1/8 teaspoon turmeric and half teaspoon salt. Mix well.

10. Pour water if your dal is too thick, to bring the dal palak to a consistency. Cook until the dal begins to bubble. Palak doesn’t require long cooking, so a few minutes will be good enough. If you like to use amchur you can add it at this stage. I prefer lemon juice so I don’t add it.

11. When it reaches the desired consistency, stir in the crushed kasuri methi. Turn off the stove. Taste test and add more salt. When the dal palak cools down slightly, squeeze in lemon juice if you have not used amchur. Do not squeeze the lemon over boiling hot dal. If you have used oil for tempering, add a tbsp of ghee now.

Serve dal palak with rice or roti or chapati. If want you may make a special tadka following the steps below.

Special Tadka

12. On a medium flame, heat a tablespoon of ghee or oil in a small tadka pan. Add 1 sliced garlic and 1 broken red chili.

13. Add a large pinch of mustard seed and ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds.

14. When the mustard seeds begins to splutter, turn off the heat and add the curry leaves (pat dry first). Add hing and ¼ teaspoon red chili powder. Note it is very important to turn off the heat first.

15. Mix well.

Pour over the dal palak. This spinach dal is made using second recipe (below). But you can make the same tempering for both the recipes and this is not included in the recipe card.

For more palak recipes, do check
Palak paneer
Spinach curry
Easy palak paratha
Hara bhara kabab
Palak rice

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

---

Recipe 2

How to make Spinach Dal with Tomatoes

I have made this in the instant pot but it can also be made in the traditional stovetop pressure cooker following the same recipe and method.

1. Pour 1 tablespoon oil or ghee to a pressure cooker (stovetop or instant pot). If using Instant pot, press the saute button and then pour oil. When the oil turns hot, add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 to 2 sliced garlic and 1 chopped green chili. (skip green chilli if you have kids at home).

2. Add ¾ cup chopped tomatoes, ½ cup chopped carrots or pumpkin (optional), ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ to 1/3 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1/8 teaspoon turmeric.

3. Saute for 1 minute.

4. Add half cup rinsed dal. Here I used 1/4 cup toor dal and 1/4 cup masoor dal. You can use just toor dal too or just masoor dal or a combination of any.

5. Pour 1 ½ cups water and give a good mix. Close the pressure cooker and cook on a medium heat for 3 whistles. If using Instant pot, Press cancel button, close the lid, position the steam release handle to sealing and press pressure cook button. Set the timer to 9 to 10 minutes. You can also cook your rice in the same IP by placing the rice bowl over a long legged trivet.

6. While the dal cooks, clean, rinse and chop the spinach. You will need about 1.5 cups chopped palak. When the pressure drops, open the pressure cooker lid and give a stir.

7. Add the chopped spinach and mix. Turn on the stove heat to medium and cook until the palak wilts. This just takes a few minutes. If using Instant pot, press the saute button and cook for 2 to 3 mins.

8. When you see the palak has wilted completely, add crushed kasuri methi and garam masala (optional). Taste test and add more salt if required.

9. Turn off and keep the cooker covered with the lid so the palak cooks completely with the residual heat. If you want you may pour 1 to 2 tsps of ghee over the hot dal or do a tadka following my moong dal recipe. Squeeze some lemon juice over dal palak and serve hot with rice or roti.