Masoor Dal Palak is a vegan and gluten free lentils curry made with whole masoor (brown lentils) and spinach. This creamy thick dal is full of texture and overall a very nutritious & healthy meal. Make it in Instant Pot or stovetop and serve with rice, naan, roti, quinoa or even as soup!!
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Whole Masoor dal Palak is probably one of my favorite dals of all!!
My mom & aaji (granny) made this dal on regular basis while growing up. They always paired it with spinach and so that's how I associate it as "Masoor Palak" which is brown lentils curry with spinach. You can always replace spinach with kale or skip if you like and its still delicious!!
Masoor is a protein rich lentil and spinach (palak) on the other hand is well known for its antioxidants properties, as rich source of Iron and other vitamins. So together masoor dal palak forms a very nutritious & healthy meal.
What is Masoor Dal
Masoor dal is brown-skinned lentil that are orange on the inside. They are known as sabut masoor dal or akkha masoor in hindi or brown lentils in english. Their split variety is called red lentils or simply masoor dal and is very popular all over the world.
What I like about this dal is, its delicious & at the same time fully packed with nutrition.
Masoor dal is high & inexpensive source of proteins from lentil family and hence a popular choice for plant based diet. It is also naturally vegan and gluten-free.
When cooked these lentils get creamy and thick making them perfect as curry, stew or soup.
How to make masoor dal palak:
Like most lentils, masoor dal recipe can be made on stove top in thick bottomed cooking pot/dutch oven or traditional pressure cooker or in the new age electric pressure cookers like InstantPot or Multipot. I always made this dal in pressure cooker and now prefer making it in InstantPot.
Masoor dal is cooked in base made of ginger garlic, onion tomato masala with Indian spices. No soaking is needed as these lentils cook fairly easy and fast. It thickens as it cooks/sits so adjust consistency with water as needed. Finish off with some spinach, cilantro leaves and good squirts of lemon and enjoy this warm as a bowl of soup or serve with rice/roti for that comforting meal!!
Instant Pot Method:
Rinse the masoor dal 4-5 times and keep aside. Soaking the dal is not needed.
Start Instant Pot on sauce (normal) mode. Once hot, add oil/ghee followed by cumin seeds and asafoetida (hing). Once the seeds splutter add the onions, stir and cover and cook until onions are translucent (approximately a 1-2 mins). Then add the ginger garlic and mix until raw garlic smell goes away. Stir in the tomatoes, cover and cook for 5 mins or until the tomatoes are soft.
Stir in the spices and mix until combined. Drain the lentils and add to the pot with 3 cups of water. Mix well, ensure there is nothing sticking to the bottom. Press cancel and close the Instant pot lid with vent to sealing and cook on manual high for 15mins followed by QR. You can also cook pot in pot rice at the same time while dal is cooking (see recipe card for details).
Open the lid, start the Instant pot on saute mode, add the chopped spinach. Get it to a simmer or until spinach has wilted down. Finish off with cilantro and lemon juice. Serve it hot over bowl of rice with some salad for that comfort meal.
Stove top Method:
Rinse the masoor dal couple of time in water & then cook (either in pressure cooker or open vessel) in 3 cups of water & some salt till done & soft. About 3-4 whistles or for 10-15mins. Keep aside.
While the dal is cooking, in another pan, make the tadka of onion tomato ginger garlic masala (similar to Instant Pot Method).
Add the tadka to the cooked dal along with spinach and simmer until spinach has wilted down. Add water (if required) to adjust the curry consistency. Finish off with cilantro and lemon juice.
Whole Masoor Dal Palak (Lentils curry with Spinach) is ready to be served.
Serving suggestion
Masoor dal pairs excellent with with zeera rice (cumin flavored basmati rice) along with side of pickle and salad or pickled onions. To make it a little elaborate you can also add a side dish or vegetable stir fry along with this dal like Aloo Gobi, or crispy bhindi .
You can also replace rice with quinoa or simply eat it just plain as a masoor dal soup topped with some salad for that crunch.
This dal has a tendency to thicken as it sits so it pairs really well with Indian flat breads like roti/chapati/naan/paratha too.
More Beans and Lentil Recipes
Hope you enjoy this Whole Masoor Dal Palak as much as we do!! If you give this recipe a try, we did love to hear from you ❤️ Please let us know your rating ⭐️and feedback in the comments below. Thank you!
Recipe Card
Whole Masoor Dal Palak
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole masoor dal brown lentils
- 1-2 tablespoon cooking oil or ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds zeera
- pinch asafoetida hing
- 1 yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- ½ tablespoon ginger minced
- 2 tomatoes finely chopped or pureed
- 2 cups spinach leaves roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoon cilantro leaves finely chopped
Spices
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder adjust to taste
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala adjust to taste
- salt to taste
Pot In Pot Rice
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 1 teaspoon ghee cooking oil, neutral
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds optional
- ½ teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- 1¼ cup water water quantity may vary as per quality of rice.
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Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Rinse the masoor dal 4-5 times and keep aside. Soaking not required.
- Start Instant Pot on saute (normal) mode. Once hot, add oil/ghee followed by cumin seeds and asafoetida (hing). Once the seeds splutter add the onions, stir, cover and cook until onions are translucent (approximately a 1-2 mins).
- Add the ginger garlic and mix until raw garlic smell goes away.
- Stir in the tomatoes, cover and cook for 5 mins or until the tomatoes are soft.
- Once tomatoes are soft, add in the spices (turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and salt) and mix until combined.
- Drain the lentils and add to the pot with 3 cups of water. Mix well, ensure there is nothing sticking to the bottom. Press Cancel.
- You can also cook pot in pot rice at the same time while this dal is cooking. For PIP rice:, wash your rice 3-4 times (in the vessel inserts that fits inside Instant Pot)until the water runs clear. Next add fresh water, salt, ghee and cumin seeds (optional). Place a trivet inside the instant pot and place this rice vessel insert on top of it.
- Close the Instant pot lid with vent to sealing and cook on manual high for 15mins followed by QR. Natural release works as well.
- Open the lid, (remove the rice/trivet) start the saute mode, add the chopped spinach. Get it to a simmer or until spinach has wilted down. Add water (if required) to adjust the curry consistency.
- Finish off with cilantro and lemon juice. Serve it hot over bowl of rice with some salad for that comfort meal.
Stove Top Method:
- Rinse the masoor dal 4-5 times and keep aside. Soaking not required.
- Cook the dal in pressure cooker or dutch oven (or thick bottomed vessel) in 3-4 cups of water & some salt for about 10-15mins or 3-4 whistles or until done and soft. Time may vary based on the quality and age of the dal.
- While the dal is cooking, in another pan, make the tadka (tempering) of onion tomato ginger garlic masala.
- Heat oil in vessel & once hot add the cumin seeds, asafoetida (hing) and onions and saute until the onions are translucent.
- Add the ginger garlic and mix until raw garlic smell goes away.
- Stir in the tomatoes, cover and cook for 5 mins or until the tomatoes are soft. Once tomatoes are soft, add in the spices (turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and salt) and mix until combined.
- Add this tadka (tempering) to the cooked dal along with spinach and simmer until spinach has wilted down. Add water (if required) to adjust the curry consistency.
- Finish off with cilantro and lemon juice.
Amruta says
Great recipe and so easy to make and healthy too!
Shweta Arora says
Thank you! Glad you like it!!
Asiya says
Great Recipe! Hearty. I hope you have more instapot recipes.......
Shweta Arora says
Thank you Asiya! Happy to know you liked it. Yes, I do have more Instant pot recipes. You can check them here.
Shweta in the Kitchen says
Thanks All for such lovely comments 🙂
Shweta in the Kitchen says
Thanks Minnie for such wonderful words 🙂 Do try it & let me know if you liked it
Priya says
Omg, wat an incredible dish, drooling here.
ram sadekar says
Combination of masur dal & palak is always tasty. You have strike the right cord.Great.
hemalata says
Healthy n yummy dal curry, looks so tempting.