Toor Dal Tadka with Spinach

6 Feb

On regular days my simple yellow dal has a spicier accompaniment. On other days, the accompaniment is plain aloo-pyaz fry while the dal is spruced up. Here is one way I make my dal interesting with a green addition: toor dal tadka with spinach.

You Need:

Toor dal – 3/4 cup
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Salt – to taste
Spinach – 1 bunch
Garlic – 5 small cloves, crushed
Ginger – 1/2 inch, crushed
Green chilies – 2, slit vertically
Tomatoes – 2
Oil – 3 teaspoons
Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
Dry red chilies – 2

How To Make Toor Dal Tadka with Spinach:

1. Wash and boil the dal

Wash and soak toor dal in three cups of water for an hour. Drain.

How to wash dal: Place the dal in a pot. Add water (about twice the quantity of dal) to the pot, move the dal around with your fingers. You’ll see the water turn cloudy. Drain the water out carefully, retaining all of the dal in the pot. Repeat till you find that the water being used to wash the dal remains clear. Depending on the type of dal this could take 5-6 cycles of wash & drain.

Boil the dal till well-cooked. [If using an Indian-style pressure cooker, put the drained dal along with 2 1/2 cups of water and a pinch of turmeric powder. Close the lid and cook for 3-4 whistles: three whistles if you want the dal flakes to show, four whistles if you like the dal well-blended. Allow the cooker to cool and release pressure naturally.]

2. Prep the veggies

Chop the tomatoes. Wash and chop the spinach leaves, discarding the stems.

Spinach, Chopped

In a pan or kadhai, heat two teaspoons of oil. Gently slide in the crushed garlic and slit green chilies. When the garlic turns golden, add the tomatoes and salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally till the tomatoes are mushy.

Add the chopped spinach and cook on high flame, stirring till the spinach wilts. When done, turn the dal into the kadhai and bring to a boil.

3. Do the tadka

In a tadka ladle, heat a teaspoon of oil. When hot, add cumin and dry red chilies. Take it off the flame as soon as the cumin seeds crackle and turn it into the dal.

Tadka