Dal Palak Recipe, Spinach Dal Tadka| How to make Palak Daal

Palak dal recipe or spinach daal – Who’s in for a delicious healthy and wholesome treat today? What else can be said for this creamy nutritious protien and fiber rich Indian daal recipe made from spinach and yellow split lentil (moong dal). The spinach dal or palak dal as it is referred in India is a great combinition of protien pack lentil cooked with mineral and fiber rich spinach.

For vegetarians, daal is one one of the best source of protein. And this dal palak recipe is even a step further. By adding spinach we have given all the goodies of palak to daal. Spinach is extremely rich in antioxidants, iron, calcium and vitamin A, C, E and K. I have published a few recipes using this healthy ingredient on this website: aloo palak sabji, corn palak sabji.

Related: sabut mung dal (green mung) | mix dal fry

This is a quick and simple recipe of daal palak. There are many different variations of this recipe. I have used the basic one. Instead of boiling the moong dal beforehand and then adding it in tadka I have cooked the dal along with tadka. This way you have to clean less utensils 😛 (unless you have a helping hand in kitchen). Also for this dal palak recipe I have used yellow moong dal. But you can make this recipe using any lentil of your choice like toor / tuvar daal, arhar dal etc.

The garlic and ginger gives a great taste to daal palak. However if you want to avoid you can simply made this recipe without garlic.

This palak daal goes really well with plain rice or jeera rice. You can even serve the dal palak with any stuffed paratha of your choice.

Let us check the step by step easy recipe of dal palak or spinach dal.

Recipe of Dal Palak (Spinach Dal) with step by step photos

For dal palak recipe we will need following ingredients: Spinach (palak) washed and chopped, yellow moong dal, chopped tomato, garlic, ginger, green chilies, lemon and salt to taste. Along with these ingredients we will also need some common Indian spices like cloves, cinnamon, mustard & cumin seeds. And we will temper the daal in ghee so will need some clarified butter / ghee.

We will make dal palak in pressure cooker. First heat a tablespoon of ghee (clarified butter) in pressure cooker. Once the ghee is hot add asafoetida (hing), cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cloves and cinnamon.

Once the mustard seeds starts fluttering add chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies.

Saute the ginger for few seconds and then add chopped tomatoes.

Cook the tomatoes until they become soft.

Add remaining spices in dal palak now. Add red chili powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder.

Add salt to taste. We can also adjust the seasoning once the daal is cooked.

Also add lemon juice now and give a quick stir.

Now add chopped palak and mix well all ingredients.

Add water and let the gravy simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Now add washed yellow moong dal.

Add water and turn off the pressure cooker lid. For 1 cup of dal we will use 2.5 cups of water. Cook the dal palak on medium flame. It should take around 3 whistles in a standard 3 liter pressure cooker. Once cooked let the palak dal get cool down before opening the lid of pressure cooker.

Delicious & healthy dal palak or spinach dal is ready to serve. Serve palak dal hot with steamed rice or jeera rice, roti or paratha.

Dal Palak (Spinach Daal) Recipe Box

If you are looking for more Indian daal recipes then do check gujarati dal, sindhi moong dal, mix dal fry and gujarati dal dhokli.