This dal is incredibly delicious and genuine. Near the end of cooking, add coconut milk for variety. Easily freezes.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups red lentils
- 3 ½ cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 pound spinach, rinsed and chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ cup coconut milk
Instructions
- Rinse lentils and soak for 20 minutes.
- In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil and stir in salt, lentils, turmeric and chili powder. Cover and return to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook 5 minutes, or until lentils are soft. Add more water if necessary.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and saute onions with cumin and mustard seeds, stirring often. Cook until onions are transparent, and then combine with lentils. Stir in garam masala and coconut milk and cook until heated through.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 362 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 45 g |
| Cholesterol | 15 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 18 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 693 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I thought this was delicious! I did wind up adding some more salt and also adding a cut up baked potato because for some reason there was too much water that needed to be absorbed. Delish!
Fabulous. I did use an entire can of coconut milk because I didn’t want to waste it. I increased the seasoning and tossed in a little smoked paprika for a nice aroma.
Yummy
I made no changes. Delicious.
Delicious dish and it is now listed in my cookbook as a family favorite.
Delicious vegan recipe. I used a very large onion, and the rest of the ingredients as specified, and it made 4 very generous portions.
It turned out great. The one change I made to the recipe was to mix green lentils And yellow split peas.
Use less water to cook the lentils (perhaps start with 2 to 2 1/2 cups and add more if needed. I would sub in more coconut milk
I didn’t have spinach so used kale. I made my own Garam masala. Pretty tasty. Next time I’ll add more coconut milk to make it creamier and will try with spinach.
Flavors were close but spices were light and should be increased somewhat.
It was mildly spiced. Good though
More graham masala no butter avacado oil
I was planning on following the recipe but then in an attempt to use only one pan I decided to cook the onions then add the lentils to them. That was my only deviation until I tasted it- then I doubled all of the seasoning except the chili powder (I’m sharing with a toddler and didn’t want it to get very strong). It still was very plain in end. Dont get me wrong it WAS VERY GOOD- but to me it tastes like Amy’s brand lentil soup(which I love!). It didnt taste like an Indian Dahl dish- which is what I was expecting. I will make it again! It froze really well and also tastes so much better as leftovers. I would give it 5 stars if I hadn’t been aiming for an Indian flavor…
Made exactly as written. Lintels were not done in allotted time. Tasted like water lintels with garam Marsala. No depth of flavor or really any other flavor profile came through. I love Indian food, this was disappointing.
I followed the recipe to a T. I would increase the spices a half teaspoon more of each. Very tasty though. I like to make ahead recipes for the work week.
Nice flavor, but a bit watery- next time I will decrease the water by 1/2 cup. Definitely add more salt, cumin and turmeric. This would be good served over potatoes.
It was good but costly and difficult to find all the spices, which I use only a small amount of and the remainder of the spices are thrown away.
I added a cup more of coconut milk and more seasoning for taste + 1/2tsp ginger . I also added onion and garlic to the lentils for extra flavor.
This was great! I used frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, as I find the consistency smoother than fresh, for recipes like this and palak paneer. It looks a bit sketchy after you add the spinach, but no more so than other creamed spinach recipes. Made a double batch, and tripled the spices, and brought to a pot luck- got rave reviews. It was also good without the spinach. Thanks for the recipe.
My family and I found this recipe to be bland. I’ve had it before in restaurants and it was sweat-inducing-hot, but not this recipe. I will try it again with more spices, and should have read the reviews first. This first try was disappointing though. Update: tried this again and with some changes it was much better– used red lentils instead if brown (don’t require extra water thus didn’t dilute the spices), added extra of all spices, especially salt, and cooked the mustard seeds in butter first, then added onions and other spices like another review suggested. Still wasn’t as spicy as I get from a restaurant, but good.
4 stars because of the changes I made… 1. I made it all in one pot, first frying the onion. I added ginger and tomato paste and then added all my spices to build a base for my curry. 2. I added potatoes for added texture (potatoes and spinach go so well). 3. I used vegetable stock instead of just water. 4. I used a cup of plain double cream yoghurt instead of coconut milk, but I’m sure coconut milk is lovely also. 5. Finally the recipe needed quite a bit of salt so I added it at the end, as well as a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, just for some zing. The result is magnificent. I served it with rice, chopped cilantro and roti. Next time I might try blanching and pureeing the spinach with ginger, garlic and fresh chilli. That could make for a luxuriously smooth, colourful and spicy result. Perhaps that should be a recipe all on it’s own. But this recipe was a great inspiration 🙂