If you've ever been fortunate enough to travel through South Asia, you've most probably enjoyed some form of lentils or other with your meals. Locally called dhal or parippu, it comes in an array of colours from orange to yellow and are used in an almost endless variety of recipes.
If you want to know more interesting facts on lentils check out my other recipe for a different variation of dhal & spinach curry here - Dhal & Spinach Curry
Comforting, delicious and loaded with nutrition, this recipe combines leafy green spinach with spiced, mushy lentils. Enjoy it with paratha, chapattis, roti or steamed rice. No matter what you accompany it with, the goodness of spinach and the mellowness of the lentils is sure an amazing combo. Hope you give it a try!
Find the link to the demo video for this recipe here: @PureedSpinachDhalCurry
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Ingredients:
Main:
1 medium onion
1 small tomato
4 green chillies
3 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of ginger
1 sprig of curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
1/2 cup of water
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp oil
For the lentils:
1 cup channa dhal
1/2 cup masoor dhal
Water as required
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
For the spinach:
2 bunches of spinach
2/4 cups of water
Method:
Ideally, the lentils should be soaked for 6 hours to overnight, but honestly, since you're using a pressure cooker, you can just wash them and cook them right away.
Place the washed and rinsed lentils in a pressure cooker, add the turmeric powder, water just enough to cover the lentils and pressure cook for about 5 whistles. Cooking time depends on your pressure cooker, of course.
Once cooked, wait for the steam to evaporate and then open and with a hard spoon mash the lentils up a bit.
Separately, place the washed spinach leaves in a pan on low to medium heat. Keep stirring in between until it is wilted, but not over done. When it's almost done, add 2/4 cup of water and cook while stirring for another minute or so.
Then place it in a blender or mixer and grind to a fine paste.
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Add in the mustard and cumin and stir for a bit.
Once they splutter, add in the curry leaves. When the curry leaves are nice and crispy, add in the onions and green chillies and then saute until translucent.
Now add the ginger and garlic and mix well for a couple minutes.
Add in the tomatoes and stir fry for a minute. Then add the salt and stir-fry for a couple minutes. Cover and allow to cook for a while until the tomatoes soften.
Now open and add the pepper powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Stir well and cook until the raw smell goes off.
Now add the lentils and mix well.
Then add 1/2 a cup of water and mix again for a minute.
Now add the pureed spinach and stir. If you feel the mixture is too thick, you can add some water and combine well. Then cover and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes on low heat.
Take it off the heat and squeeze over the lime juice. Stir well.
Now it's a good time to do a taste test for salt.
Garnish with a sprig of curry leaves before serving.
This dish goes well with rice and curry. Here is a typical one below. For the other items in this plate, click the links:
Aunty Christine's Refreshing Pathola (Snake Gourd) Salad - @SnakeGourdSalad
Sri Lankan Radish (Rabu) Curry - @RadishCurry
Enjoy!
PS: If you make any of my recipes, do tag me on Instagram as @MyFoodyChic and use the #MyFoodyChic hashtag. I really do love seeing your takes on my recipes!
XOXO, Jovanka
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