The Indian Food Court

Palak – also spinach. Lot of dishes are prepared with palak such as Palak paneer, Palak in Moong dal, Palak Sabji etc. I borrowed this recipe from one of my friends who offered it to me with chapathi and it tasted awesome. It can even be a side dish for lunch. Healthy and green, there was a time it was hard to find spinach in South India. But in the past decade this has changed, possibly due to the welcome influence from North India !

What you need to have:

- Toor Dal 1/2 cup

- Palak (4 Cups) 3 bunches

- Onions (Big) 2

- Garlic cloves 5-6

- Curry leaves 3-4 Strings

- Tomato(Big) 1

- Turmeric powder 1 Teaspoon

- Dhania-Jeera powder 2 Teaspoons

- Chilli powder 1and1/2 Teaspoons

- Curry leaves 3-4 strings

Fresh Palak leaves

Ingredients of Dal Palak

1. Wash and cut palak to a very fine consistency. Cut onions, tomato also to a fine consistency and keep it aside separately. Also crush garlic. Wash curry leaves and separate it from the strings.

2. Soak Toor dal in sufficient quantity of water with a few drops of cooking oil and a pinch of turmeric powder for around 10 minutes and cook it in the cooker as usual. Make sure that it is not over cooked.

3. Place a thick wide bowl on flame with 4-5 teaspoons of cooking oil in it. On heating add finely chopped onions with some salt to it.

4. When onions turn transparent, add crushed garlic, curry leaves to it from step 1. Fry for some time and add cut Tomatoes, add turmeric powder and Rasam powder to it.

5. Cook finely chopped palak and a table spoon water  let it cook on a low flame for around 10-15 minutes.

6. When cooked,  mix the cooked dal from Step 2 to it and just stir  well. The cooked dish looks as below.

Ready to serve Dal Palak

7. Dal Palak can be relished with rice also.

Dal Palak with rice

8. Dal Palak can be a side dish for Chapathi and Rottis

Dal Palak with Chapathi

What to remember:

1. Dal should not be over cooked – it should cooked enough to actually be visible in the dish rather than totally mashed.

2. One can use only chilli powder-Jeera powder combination OR some Rasam powder. Avoid using garam masala powder or Ginger-Garlic paste.

Number of Servings: 5 people

Time taken: 45 Minutes