Dals are a staple in millions of Indian homes around the world because they are reassuring, filling, and healthy. Red lentils and spinach are used in this particular dal, which cooks rapidly, doesn’t need to be presoaked, and only calls for a small number of ingredients. Serve with cooked basmati rice or naan.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 cups water
- 2 medium whole tomatoes
- 2 (1/4 inch thick) slices unpeeled fresh ginger
- 2 fresh Thai chiles, or more to taste, stems discarded
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ cup firmly packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 8 ounces fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Rinse lentils in a 3- to 4-quart pot with water, rubbing lentils between the fingertips of one hand, then drain. Repeat 3 or 4 times or until the water runs clear.
- Place drained lentils in the pot and add 2 cups water, tomatoes, ginger, chiles, and turmeric. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, skimming and discarding foam. When tomato skin is loosened and wrinkled, after about 5 minutes of cooking, transfer tomatoes to a plate to cool.
- Reduce heat to medium and simmer lentils, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until very tender and almost mushy, about 15 minutes. (The lentil color will change from salmon to pale yellow as they cook.) Keep warm over low heat.
- Meanwhile, peel and core cooled tomatoes; discard skins. Transfer tomatoes to a blender, along with the ginger and chiles from the pot and the cilantro. Pureé, scraping down the sides as needed, until you have a thick, green-flecked tomato sauce.
- Heat ghee in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add cumin seeds and let sizzle until they turn reddish brown and smell nutty, about 10 seconds. Immediately add spinach in handfuls, stirring to wilt.
- Stir spinach mixture, tomato sauce, and salt into warm lentils. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, to let the flavors mingle, about 5 minutes.
- Look for red lentils, sometimes called Egyptian lentils in the United States and known as masoor dal in India, in the bean aisle of your favorite supermarket. They are salmon-colored and quick-cooking. If they’re unavailable, you can use the more common brown lentils (also called French lentils), but you may need to add more water and increase the cooking time by another 15 minutes.
- You can use serrano chiles instead of Thai chiles, and canola oil instead of ghee. For a bit more bitterness, use mustard greens instead of spinach.
- The technique of sizzling whole spices in ghee and using it to flavor a cooked pot of legumes is called tadka.
- This is part of a special feature in our February-March 2022 magazine issue. See the magazine for more recipes!
Reviews
I live in rural Georgia… I didn’t think I would be able to find a lot of the ingredients, but the only thing I couldn’t find was the Thai peppers. I had to use Serrano instead. I don’t handle spicy food well, so I only used one pepper, which was right at the line of what I could tolerate. I made it for vegetarian friends who had come over for dinner and they loved it. The directions were very thorough and easy to follow for a newbie to this kind of food. I would make this again just for us. I can see where this would be perfect on a chilly night. I served it with naan.
I am Half Indian And have grown up eating this. I felt like it was a great recipe. And not too complicated. The only change I made was I kept the tomato skins.