Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Spinach Dal (Dal Palak)

Blogger had a meltdown last week, and several of my posts were lost.  The thought of starting over, combined with incredible busyness, has kept me from posting.  But it's time for a little catch-up.

This dish sure doesn't look like much, but Amey of vegan treats and eats is right: it's delicious.  Is it a dal?  Is it a vegetable dish?  Who knows.  I found myself wanting a lot more acid in it to balance out the earthiness of the lentils; the juice of two limes ended up doing the trick.  I also reduced the amount of water in the recipe, as it took soo much cooking to get enough to evaporate out of the pot.

Spinach Dal (Dal Palak)
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs spinach (about 2 lbs before stemming)
1 c red lentils
4 cups water (or a bit less)
oil
4-8 cloves garlic, coarsely minced
4 oz shallots, minced
1 TB fresh ginger, minced
3/4 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
juice of 2 limes
more water, as desired

Instructions
1. Steam spinach 5-10 min.  Drain and puree.  Set aside.
2. Cook lentils in water until soft (30 min?).
3. Heat oil in a small frying pan.  Cook garlic, shallots, ginger, and spices until brown and fragrant.  Remove from heat.
4. When lentils are nearly done, add spinach puree and saute mixture (aka "tempering oil").  Simmer a bit longer, then stir in lime juice and salt to taste.  Serves about 4.

2 comments:

janet @ the taste space said...

What a way to get your veggies packed in! This looks delicious. I am with you on the sweets.. don't crave them much these days. Although I had a raw banana chocolate cheesecake at a resto yesterday and it was to die for... so filling with all the cashews, though!

janet @ the taste space said...

I was cursing as I had so many dirty pots and my food processor to clean, but after I ate the dish, I was in heaven. This was fabulous! Never knew Indian food could taste this good. :)