Friday, March 11, 2011

Spinach Dal

Dal curry awakens fond memories from my early days of marriage. Yes, I know that I have talked about this on our site before. When I write about dal curry, it’s difficult not to mention my Telugu friend and colleague from Hyderabad who made a mean dal curry - so to speak. Though a little too spicy, it was delicious!. Being unable to eat as much as I would like with the heat, I asked her once how many chilies she put in the curry and she said “a handful.” Wow! No wonder, I would exclaim. It was a joke between us how much I would still eat in spite of the heat in the curry. I have learned a lot from her, and when I started cooking this curry myself she would caution me - you better go easy on the chilies having a kid at home!

Spinach Dal

Dal, in most Indian cuisines, is a side dish that goes both with rice and roti. As most dishes, it is cooked differently from state to state. However, it is a must have in a ‘Thali.’ My mouth waters whenever I think of a good lunch thali from my favorite vegetarian restaurant. I have tried to recreate some of that magic with this dish myself and hope you will enjoy it too.
Spinach Dal


Spinach Dal


Ingredients:

Tur Dal/Tuvar/Toor daal- ~1 cup
Tomato- 1 chopped finely
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- to your taste
Spinach- one bunch,chopped
Tamarind pulp- from a lime sized ball or to your taste

Tempering:

Oil- 1 Tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Chana dal- 1 tsp
Red chilies, broken into halves- 3
Garlic grated- 1 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder- 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Pressure-cook all the ingredients listed, except for tempering and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Follow it with chana dal and when it changes color to a light brown, add the grated garlic and red chilies. Saute` until the raw smell leaves.
3. Switch off the heat and add chili powder. Keep stirring until the chili powder is heated through. Be careful not to burn the chili powder. Pour the tempering over the cooked dal and mix.
4. Serve with rice.

Notes:
1. You can add green chilies when you cook the dal, and skip adding the red chili powder in the tempering.
2. For the amount of dal given in this recipe, 3-4 green chilies would make the dish medium hot (spicy).
3. Sometimes, I cook the dal with salt and turmeric and add the remaining ingredients along with the tempering - sautéing after each addition until they are all cooked and mix into the dal.

Sending this to My Legume Love affair at Ammalu's Kitchen,barinchild of Susan from The well seasoned cook
Contributor: Namitha

43 comments:

  1. Wonderful spread, thick spinach dal looks simply delicious and fabulous..

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  2. I love hearing about where the food that brings you fond memories come from. I would love to make some tonight, but I don't have a pressure cooker. This looks like comfort food to me. Mmmm...

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  3. The platter looks soo yumm, its def calling me Boulder ketto :),

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  4. Thali looks yummmm...I am hungry now :))

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  5. Anything with spinach..count in me :)yummy with rice..2nd pic valarea ishttapettutto..

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  6. Dal palak is one of my favorite with rice, yours looks tempting and delicious!

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  7. Yummy thali. dal looks absolutely delicious.

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  8. yummm...comfort food for me!!..looks just like it make it! I like it spicy too..
    Smitha

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  9. looks great can't beat a good dal my hubby is great at making it

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  10. Would be a confort food for me- I always love spicy dhal "Andra version":)

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  11. looks simply delicious and fabulous..

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  12. Looks very comforting...healthy n tasty dal

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  13. Wow healty Plater,delicious dal...awesome clicks.

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  14. wonderful dal...perfect with hot rice and ghee.

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  15. Perfectly flavored dal!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  16. Simple and delicious dal.. awesome presentation.. :)

    Indian Cuisine

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  17. what a coincidence I had made this yesterday only. Very nice presentation of delicious dal

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  18. Spinach dal is ultimate comfort food.

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  19. you have such a wonderful blog...happy to follow u :-)
    I have an award waiting for you in my blog...plz accept it !

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  20. spinach dal looks delicious. pic also superb as usual

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  21. that looks amazing and i love the thali concept......

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  22. very comforting and simple one .Adding tamarind pulp sounds so new to me. great clicks as always

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  23. yup yup yellow is so so pretty :)
    i love dal in any form..that meal looks fab..yummo

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  24. I love using these lentils too!

    Your dahl looks so tasty & elegant too!,:)
    MMMMMM,...Great presented too!

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  25. I love spinach dal, esp the pappu made in Andhra. Urs looks awesome. Love the pics too.

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  26. Look totally delicious and comforting!

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  27. Love this plate of comfort food and very beautiful photographs too.

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  28. Comforting and yummy spinach dal.

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  29. Awesome Platter..looks so divine, comforting and absolutely delicious. By the way the pictures are gorgeous.

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  30. lovely dal, I loved the whole plate actually remindedd me of thali food which I just adore:)

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  31. Looks familiar and yes right on mark about the handful of chillies!:-D

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  32. We love dal curry. Never thought of including spinach in it. Sounds wonderful!

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  33. Plz collect the award waiting for u from my Awards Page...
    Love the healthy combination of Spinach n Daal....
    http://panchamrutham.blogspot.com/

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  34. The whole spread looks so comforting, dal curry looks very yummy..Love the clicks very much!

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  35. Delicious..one tempting platter you have there..nothing beat a nice homey meal like this one!


    US Masala

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  36. Awesome dal and a delicious thali Namitha :-)

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  37. love this combo anytime, looks great

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  38. Love the healthy platter there, Namitha! Lovely clicks and a very comforting dal.

    Lite Bite

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