Palak Dal or Spinach Lentil Curry

I started eating rice with dal on an everyday basis when I moved to Hyderabad. That,s where my husband and I lived for 2 years after we got married. Initial days I didn't have to cook so much. Then came days where I had to fight in the kitchen with knives,rice and the everything else. I didn't know how to even make rice.I realized cooking is an art. Yes I said it. It is a balance of taste,aroma and presentation that tickles your senses. On the other hand, cooking is a form of science too. Ingredient A+  2 Ingredient B--> 3Ingredient C and you get 3 Ingredient D if you apply heat.  

I grew up in kerala which in South India and in my parents house dal was made only once in year - for Onam. Hence, cooking dal was rocket science for me. My husband was used to seeing delicious dal on the dinner table everyday. And I hated  to make dal because every time I made it, I would get so disappointed. I remember telling my mother in law if she could pack a little dal for me everyday. I loved the way dal was made in my in-laws house, 

After 3.5 years of marriage I have learnt how to make dal and I want to share how.

Pssst:- I use a pressure cooker for this . And, simple things like adding salt at the start itself can spoil the dish.

Ingredients

Channa Dal(Split Bengal Gram Dal)  1/4 cup  

Mung Dal(Split Green Gram Dal) 1/4 cup

Onion 1 small sliced

Ginger and garlic chopped 1.5 tsp each

Green chilies slit 3 or 4

Turmeric powder 3/4 tsp

Chili powder 1 tsp

Garam masala or curry powder 1 tsp

Curry Leaves 2 sprigs

Spinach 1 bunch chopped

Coriander leaves chopped 1 cup

Salt and Pepper
 Ghee or Oil 1 tbsp
 Shah jeera 1 tsp
  Garlic sliced 3 cloves

Method

Rince toor dal and mung dal and soak for 20 mins. Soak tamarind in half cup water. Transfer it into a pressure cooker with 2.5 cups of water. Add the slices onions, ginger, garlic, green shillies, turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala powder and 1 sprig curry leaves. Do not add salt at this point. Pressure cook this on medium flame and wait for  3 whistles.Let this rest for 20 mins. After 20 minutes,release any extra pressure.  When you remove the lid, you should see something like this:-

Extract the juice from the tamarind using a sieve. With the flat side of the spoon, mash the dal. Add salt, pepper and tamarind extract to the dal. At this point you can add a half chicken stock cube if you are a non vegetarian( I did).

 In a small pan heat the ghee, splutter shah jeera, sliced garlic and curry leaves and pour this over the dal.  Keep the pressure cooker back on the stove and let the dal for another 10 minutes. Add the chopped spinach and coriander leaves and give it a boil. And Voila! :-) There you have dal in front of you.

This is best had with rice and pickle or rotis.