Could you believe that making Winter Greens would be an easy task?
This Palak Chana Dal Recipe is a one-pot Spinach Recipe made super easy for busy you. A popular recipe from North India, this Spinach Dal is a total comfort meal when paired with jeera rice, Paratha, or Chapati.
Leafy greens like Spinach are best eaten in winter season and I love including these green beauties in everyday meal. Dal Palak is a traditional winter recipe for Indians.
It is a great way of combining the goodness of spinach with Bengal gram dal or Chana dal. Flavorful, mildly spicy, and fragrant, the palak dal recipe was a super hit in the family and the best thing is that it can easily be made in a stovetop pressure cooker or an instant pot.
This recipe uses sorted fresh spinach leaves. One may chop them finely or ground them as a paste. The kids are picky eaters when it comes to winter greens. I prefer using the paste of spinach leaves made with fresh sorted leaves, washed and rinsed.
This helps me create a comforting lentil soup like homely palak chana and topping it with the desi-ghee Mirch tempering enhances its taste. Perfect for a complete meal on a busy weekday!
More Spinach Recipes: Spinach Paneer (Palak Paneer) Curry, Roasted Pumpkin Spinach Salad, Indian Spinach Chickpea Curry (Chana Saag), Saag Paneer, Vegan Spinach Soup.
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Ingredients
See the recipe card for the exact measurements of the ingredients.
- Fresh Palak / Spinach leaves- This recipe uses fresh spinach leaves. They are sorted, rinsed, and blended to make a paste, which is added while pressure cooking the yellow lentils. You may choose to chop them in small and add them without blending as well. Feel free to use Mustard leaves, fresh fenugreek leaves (methi leaves), or bathua leaves.
- Chana Dal: This recipe uses Bengal gram dal or chana dal. You may use a combination of dals- pigeon pea lentils (arhar dal), green moong dal, or yellow moong dal.
- Desi Ghee: I highly recommend tempering lentils with Desi Ghee. If you are a vegan, you may choose vegan cooking oils.
The common ingredients include onion, tomato, garlic, green chilies, spices like cumin seeds, turmeric powder, and red chilli powder. Feel free to add coriander powder and Garam Masala.
How To Make Palak Chana Dal
Step 1. Wash, Prep Spinach and Chana Dal
Wash the chana dal thoroughly under the tap and soak it for about 20 minutes. Also wash the spinach leaves and chop them as desired.
Step 2 Prep Spinach Leaves
While the dal is soaked, you may gather the ingredients and chop the onion, tomato, green chilly. Take spinach leaves and blend them with garlic to a smooth paste.
Step 3. Pressure Cook Chana Dal and Spinach Paste
Drain water from chana dal and wash again. Add Spinach paste, onion, tomatoes, and raw chana dal to a pressure cooker. Add water to soak dal one inch deep (as spinach would also leave the water) along with salt and turmeric powder. Boil for two whistles on full. Simmer for 5 min. Once it cools off, adjust water if needed.
Step 4. Temper The Chana Dal
Check if dal is cooked. Add Desi Ghee Heeng Jeera Red chilly tempering to the dal. You may also add lemon juice or raw mango powder in the last.
Step 5. Serve It
The wholesome Dal palak chana is ready! Serve it with Paratha or rice.
How to make Dal Palak in Instant Pot?
For making Dal Palak in an instant pot, add oil/ ghee and saute onion, garlic, tomato, chopped or paste of spinach leaves, washed lentils, add water along with salt and turmeric. Pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. Wait for the pressure to release and add jeera, lemon juice, red chilly with little ghee tempering.
Expert Tips
- Soak the chana dal for at least 20 min (upto an hr) to reduce cooking time.
- Use fresh spinach for the best flavor.
- Allow the dal to simmer gently over low heat to allow the flavors to assimilate.
- I temper the dal by heating red chili powder in ghee until mildly cooked (NOT BURNT) and then pouring it over the cooked dal just before serving. You need to be careful as the ghee is hot and would sizzle when poured over the dal.
Storage Suggestions
To store Palak Chana Dal, let it cool, then transfer to airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage. Label containers with the date for easy tracking. Reheat thoroughly before serving.
What To Serve With This Spinach Lentil?
Being North Indian, I prefer Chapati or Paratha with lentils. Rice lovers can team this flavorful dal with jeera rice, brown fried rice, cilantro lime brown rice.
Recipe FAQs
Chana Palak uses chana dal with spinach, while Chana Saag has chickpeas with a mix of leafy greens (like mustard greens, spinach, and fenugreek). The flavor and texture vary based on the leafy greens used.
This recipe of Chana palak Dal has approx 20 gm protein.
all three- chana dal, moong khichdi dal (green split moong beans), masoor dal.
Stories From Kitchen
As a kid, I would stay away from winter greens as I didn't like leaves in my food. That continued for long, in fact so long that I had started having these greens after marriage. My mother-in-law not only made me learn how to cook but also shared such quick tips that worked like a charm for a fussy eater like me. For your picky eaters, this recipe rich in proteins would be a perfect choice!
You may also like:
- Kala Chana Recipe (Black Chickpeas Curry)
- Baingan Bharta Recipe (Eggplant Bharta)
- Makki Ki Roti (Punjabi Maize Flour Flatbread)
- Methi Paratha Recipe
- Methi Matar Malai
- Easy Fermented Cucumber Pickle
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Easy Chana Dal Palak Recipe (Spinach Daal)
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker
- 1 Blender
- 1 Tadka Pan
Ingredients
- 2 cup Spinach leaves fresh sorted washed
- 2 cup Chana Dal / Split Chickpea Lentil
- 1 large onion
- 1 large tomato
- 1 tablespoon Desi Ghee
- 1 small green chilly
- 1 teaspoon Jeera (Cumin)
- ½ teaspoon Heeng (Asafoetida)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder (Haldi)
- 2 teaspoon Red Chilly powder can adjust this
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice or Amchur Powder optional
- 4 cups water, adjust to soak dal one inch deep
- salt as per taste
Instructions
- Wash the chana dal thoroughly under the tap and soak it for about 20 minutes. Also wash the spinach leaves and chop them as desired.
- While the dal is soaked, you may gather the ingredients and chop the onion, tomato, green chilly. Take spinach leaves and blend them with garlic to a smooth paste.
- Drain water from chana dal and wash again. Add Spinach paste, onion, tomatoes, and raw chana dal to a pressure cooker. Add water to soak dal one inch deep (as spinach would also leave the water). Add salt and turmeric powder.
- Boil for two whistles on full. Simmer for 5 min. Once it cools off, adjust water if needed. Check if dal is cooked. Add Desi Ghee Heeng Jeera Red chilly tempering to the dal. You may also add lemon juice or raw mango powder in the last.
- The Delicious Dal palak is ready! Serve it with Paratha or rice.
Video
Notes
- The Chana dal shall be soaked ideally for at least 20 min. If you are in hurry you may skip that step. In that case, you may pressure cook on simmer for an extra 5-10 min.
- The Moong Split Green Dal can be used instead of Chana dal. The recipe remains the same with no changes.
- If you wish to use any other lentils, if it's not the whole lentils, you may keep it on simmer for a maximum of 5 min as split lentils tend to cook faster.
- I temper the dal by heating red chili powder in ghee until mildly cooked (NOT BURNT) and then pouring it over the cooked dal just before serving. You need to be careful as the ghee is hot and would sizzle when poured over the dal.
- You may also use finely chopped spinach leaves instead of spinach paste. That also tastes amazing. The leaves become tender when boiled with Dal and they give a great texture to Dal palak.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 bowl | |
| Servings: 5 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 205 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 7.7g | 10% |
| Saturated Fat 1.5g | 8% |
| Cholesterol 3mg | 1% |
| Sodium 51mg | 2% |
| Total Carbohydrate 28g | 10% |
| Dietary Fiber 5.4g | 12% |
| Total Sugars 2.4g | |
| Protein 20.4g | |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Calcium 215mg | 17% |
| Iron 14mg | 77% |
| Potassium 581mg | 12% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
Anonymous says
I had been wondering how to make my kids eat green veggies. They don't like leafy vegetables. This is really a superb idea of making them eat without any fuss. thanks!
Deepti says
Yes, indeed. Thanks for stopping by and keep visiting fro more kid friendly recipes!