As my pantry was already full with stuff that I am really trying to finish off I bought a lot of fresh vegetables when I went to the Indian grocery shop in a neighbouring city. Although I was very enthusiastic about them when I bought it became a bit over whelming as I had to use them as quickly as possible. One of those was palak and I was quite surprised by how many times I thought I could do this or that with palak and when it was right there I could not easily figure out what to do. Part of the reason probably is that I have pretty much been replacing palak with the spinach we get at supermarkets and have been quite happy with those. I was flipping some cook books for ideas as my brain had just paused and noticed Tarla Dalal’s masoor palak recipe. I decided that would be a great option because my husband always prefers dals with rotis and any means to make them even more nutritious would be great. The original recipe did not call for any masala powder butI thought it is way to simple and plain to have nothing and decided to jazz up the innocent lentil palak combo with some dhansak masala (I had bought this during my Indian grocery shopping as well!). I used MDH brand and it was quite good. You could use garam masala instead if you do not have dhansak masala. Here is how I made the dish...
½ cup red lentil, pressure cooked
1 bunch palak leaves, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon dhansak masala or garam masala
3 green chillies, slit
4 cloves garlic chopped finely
Turmeric powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander powder
Salt to taste
Cooking oil
Heat a little oil and add the cumin seeds and once it browns, add the garlic, chillies and onion
Once onion softens, add the cooked dal/lentil, palak and tomatoes and cook until palak and tomatoes are done. Add water if needed.
Add the dhansak masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt and simmer a few minutes. Add water if needed
Serve!
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