Palak Channadal Curry | Spinach Bengal Gram Curry

Palak Chana Dal Curry, a nutritious and scrumptious dal variety made with fresh palak leaves, chana dal along with onion-tomato based masala. This is a one-pot comforting dal which is very easy to make and takes very less time to make. Many of our kids show little aversion to spinach and we need to try hard to make them understand the importance of greens. We need to try to include greens in any form every day for a healthy living. Atleast include coriander and curry leaves in generous quantity. This Spinach Bengal Gram Curry (Palak Channadal Curry) is one way to include spinach in our diet. Relish this delicious dal with roti/naan/ paratha or any Pulav Varieties.

Tips for making Palak Chana Dal Curry:

Soak the Palak leaves in a tub/bucket of water for 10 mins and then gently take out the leaves floating atop.
While cooking any greens, usually the greens will lose its color. To retain its color, we can add a teaspoon of sugar or we can mix a pinch of baking soda with 1 teaspoon of water and add to the palak leaves. Even turmeric helps to retain the greenish color of the leaves.
To get creamy dal, we can grind 1 cup of palak leaves to smooth paste and add the rest of leaves as chopped to get much creamy dal.
We can also add methi leaves, radish or beet leaves along with palak.
Soak Chana dal atleast for 20 mins that will help the dal cook quickly.
Do not over cook in pressure cook it will make the dal becomes very mushy.

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Recipe Card for Palak Chana dal Curry | Spinach Bengal Gram Curry:

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES:

SAOKING CHANA DAL

Soak Channadal in water for 20 minutes.

PREPARING SPINACH

Wash the spinach thoroughly and chop it roughly and set it aside.

PREPARING ONION-TOMATO MASALA

Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add onions, garlic and ginger and saute the onions till translucent.

Add tomato and stir well.

Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt and allow the tomato to cook for 2 minutes.

COOKING PALAK CHANA DAL

Then, add soaked and drained channadal.

Also chopped spinach and mix well.

Then add 4 cups of water and stir once.

Close the cooker with lid and put the whistle and allow for 2-3 whistles.

Allow the pressure to fully release and then give the spinach and dal a good stir.

TEMPERING

Meanwhile heat a pan and add ghee. When the ghee is melted and hot, add cumin seeds and allow it to sputter. Add red chili and saute for couple of seconds. Then swtich off the flame.