Lasooni Dal Palak

Having bought a large tub of baby spinach from costco, I was looking for an Indian dish to make besides palak paneer. I found this receipe on Sailu's kitchen blog (http://www.sailusfood.com/):


Ingredients:

1 small cup tur dal

2 cups chopped and tightly packed spinach

1 onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

2 green chillis, slit lengthwise

3 garlic cloves, finely sliced, saute in ghee till lightly browned and keep aside

1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger or paste

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

big pinch turmeric powder

salt to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)

2 cups water, approximately

For tadka:

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

2 garlic cloves finely chopped (I grate this with a hand grater)

1 tbsp ghee

1) In a pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water and tuvar dal and pressure cook upto 3 whistles (I pressure cook on high flame until 1 whistle, then I turn flame to very low and cook for seven minutes.) If cooking over stove top, cook till the dal is almost cooked.
2) Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel, add cumin seeds and as they splutter, add garlic and ginger and stir fry for few seconds. Careful if you add ginger paste as this will cause a lot of splatter due to it's water content. Add the chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes, until cooked.
3) Add red chilli powder and turmeric powder and combine. Add the chopped palak and saute for 4 minutes. Add chopped tomato and saute for another 3 minutes.
4) Add the pressure cooked dal along with salt and combine. Cook on slow to medium flame for 5-10 minutes without lid or till you get the consistency of your choice.

5 Serve with rotis or rice.