Recipe: Palak Chana Dal

Palak chana dal is a wholesome and delicious combination of spinach leaves and chana dal or gram lentil. The simple and savory dal recipe with a spicy tadka is a perfect addition to your lunch or dinner menu.

Food Couture by Chetna Patel

1. Wash the dal and soak it overnight. it takes less time to cook the dal if it is soaked before hand.

2. Wash the spinach leaves twice and strain the water from them with the help of a strainer. now chop the leaves and put them in a bowl.

3. Make a paste of tomato, green chilli and ginger.

4. You can either temper the masala in the cooker first, put the dal and palak into it and pressure it for upto 1 whistle. alternatively, you can first boil the dal and spinach in a cooker and temper the masala in a separate pan. later on mix the two. both the ways are suitable to make a good tasty recipe.

5. We will be following the first alternative today to prepare the spinach chana dal.

6. Heat ghee in a cooker and temper the cumin seeds and heeng into it. once the cumin seeds are roasted well, add turmeric powder, coriander powder and roast well.

7. Now put the tomato ginger paste into the masala and mix well. roast the masala well until the oil starts to float at the top of it.

8. Put chopped spinach leaves and chana dal into the masala and mix well. roast the ingredients for 2 minutes and then pour 4 times the quantity of water of the dal into the cooker along with salt and red chilli powder.

9. Pressure the cooker for upto 1 whistle. after the whistle, lower down the flame and cook the dal for 6-7 minutes. turn off the flame.

10. Open the lid of the cooker once the steam of the cooker comes out. if the dal and the water are falling together when dropped from a spoon then it means that your dish is ready. 11. you may add some more water if the consistency of the dal is too thick. mix garam masala and lemon juice to it and mix well.

12. Spinach chana dal is ready. transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves. serve the spinach chana dal fresh with naan, rice, chapati or parantha.

Note:

If you use onions in your recipes then add 1 chopped onion in the recipe once the cumin seeds turns brown. roast the onions till they turn light pink in colour and follow the same procedure as described above.