Dal Palak – Moong Dal Spinach Curry – Cheera Parippu 

A simple home style Dal Palak. Tasty, served with rice or roti. This Dal Palak uses split  Moong Dal and Spinach. Made ‘extra special’ with my delicious crispy fried chili-shallot topping! Coconut is ground to a smooth paste, to add creaminess to this curry. If you love dal and rice, this is a must try!

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Dal Palak – Moong Dal Spinach Curry – Cheera Parippu

Ingredients:

• 3-4 cups indian spinach (palak) or any spinach of your choice
•  ¹/3 cup moong dal (split green gram- it’s yellow when split)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 long mild green chili, chopped
•  ¹/3 tsp turmeric powder
• ½ cup grated coconut, loosely packed
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 shallot
• water as required
• salt to taste ( 1 tsp or so)

For the crispy chili-shallot topping

• 6 shallots
• 6 long dried chillies – the shrivelled, milder variety
• 3 Tbsp oil – I prefer coconut oil for this 

For tempering: (optional)

• ¼ tsp mustard seeds

Method:

•  Rinse the palak / spinach several times. Scrub well. Ensure  the spinach is rinsed thoroughly to remove the earthy smell. Remove any wilted leaves or stems.
• Chop coarsely.
• In a medium sized pressure cooker, add the dal. Rinse well and strain the water.
• Add the chopped palak, crushed/ bruised garlic, chopped  green chili, turmeric and salt to taste.
• Add just enough  water to cover the spinach.
• Cook on medium heat for 3 steam whistles.
• Meanwhile, grind the coconut, cumin seeds and shallot with just a little bit of water to obtain a smooth paste.
• Once the dal is cooked and the pressure cooker is cool, open and add the ground paste.
• Return to heat. When the curry comes to boil again, remove from heat. (Do not over boil).

Crispy Chili-Shallot Topping

• Add the peeled shallots and dried chili to a small grinder jar along with ¹/3 tsp salt. Grind to a grainy texture.
• Heat the coconut oil in a small pan.
• Add the crushed chili-shallot mixture. Fry, stirring continuously till the shallots are crisp.
• Remove the crisp mixture with a slotted strainer.

Tempering (optional):

• To the same oil,(remove some as necessary). Add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Add to curry.

Serve the curry with the crispy chili-shallot topping on the side. It adds the perfect crunch and flavor. Not to be stirred into the curry. Some portion of the topping can be used as a garnish on top.

Dal Palak – Moong Dal Spinach Curry – Cheera Parippu

• Washing the spinach is very important to remove any earthy notes. If this step is not done properly, the entire flavor of the curry is ruined.
• If you don’t have grated coconut, ¼ cup thick coconut cream may be used. In this case add the cumin and shallot (pounded together), directly to curry with the coconut cream towards the end.

Key Ingredients: Moong Dal, Spinach, Coconut, Shallots, Garlic, Turmeric, Green Chili, Dried red chili, Cumin seeds, Salt, Oil, Mustard Seeds.

Let me know if you tried  the – Dal Palak . Comments from you provide motivation to keep up the driving force behind this blog, bringing you more delicious and perfected recipes regularly. Please do leave a comment. Love hearing from you.