Spinach Dal | Paruppu Keerai | Pasalai Keerai Kadaiyal | Dal Palak

Spinach dal, already i have a recipe for spinach dal in my blog, this one is quite different from that.In this recipe, spinach is grinded into smooth paste and add it along with dal. I have had this kind of spinach dal in few restaurants, to recreate the dish, i browse through images online and the image from rakskitchen looks quite similar to the one i had in restaurants. I tried her recipe with few changes according to my preference and it turns out really delicious and it becomes a keeper recipe.I makes this spinach dal frequently atleast once in every two weeks and it taste great with both rice and chapathi.

Spinach Dal

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: India

Ingredients
Spinach - 2 1/4 cup tightly packed
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Garlic - 3 
Cumin seed - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoedita powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1/2 tsp
To Temper
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Mustard & urad dal -1/2 tsp

Procedure

Wash the dal and put it in pressure cooker along with asafoedita powder, cover the lid, put on weight and cook for 3 whistle or till it becomes mushy.In the mean time, heat the pan with oil, add the cumin seed and roughly chopped garlic, saute for 2 mins.Then add the washed spinach in the pan, stir well, cover the pan with lid and cook the spinach.Let it cool completely.Put it in mixie jar and grind into smooth paste. Once the pressure released from the cooker automatically, open the lid and mash it slightly.Add the spices(turmeric & red chili powder) & salt and heat the dal again,add 1/4 cup of water and  bring the dal  to boil.Then add the spinach paste.If needed, add water(i used the water from washed mixie jar ), bring to slight boil and switch off  the flame.Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add it in spinach dal.That's it , tasty & healthy spinach dal is ready.We had it with rice, mushroom masala & omelette.

Notes:

• Adding good amount of garlic & cumin seed gives great flavor to this dal.
• You can adjust the amount of dal and spinach as per your preference.
• My garlic pods are big, so use 3, it gives approx 1 tbsp of chopped garlic. Adjust the garlic numbers as per your garlic size.
• Instead of moong dal, you can use toor dal too. 
• I used baby spinach , if you are using spinach bunch, remove the stack from the leaves.
• If needed, squeeze lemon juice while serving.