Instant Pot Spinach Dal recipe | Dal Palak | Lentils with Spinach
Instant Pot Spinach Dal is very easy to make and is a comfort food for me. It goes very well with steaming rice or rotis. You can make this in Instant pot in less than 30 minutes and lunch/dinner is ready.
Instant Pot Spinach Dal is also known as “Dal Palak” or “Palakoora Pappu” or ” Palak Keerai Kootu”. Whatever you may call it, it is just delicious and nutritious. You can make it with any lentils(split peas, pigeon peas, yellow mung or green moong etc) but in my household we usually make it with Pigeon peas (Toor or Tuvar dal).
You can make this Instant Pot Spinach Dal on the thinner side for a soup like dish or thicker for dal. I added tomatoes for tanginess but you can also add Tamarind instead of tomatoes. One thing to remember is that sour tomatoes or tamarind can prevent the lentils from cooking fully. So if your dal is not properly cooked then it can be because of tomatoes or tamarind.
It doesn’t happen all the time but its good to know for troubleshooting the issue.Tomatoes on the vine gives nice tanginess as well as slight sweetness.
Checkout my other instant pot curry recipes 👇👇👇
I have added garlic for a nice flavor but if you are not interested in adding garlic then you can add Hing or Asafoetida instead of garlic. This recipe is such a easy way to hide lot of spinach, even if you are 2-3 bunches it all reduces to 1 cup of spinach 🙂
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Instant Pot Spinach Dal recipe | Dal Palak | Lentils with Spinach
- 4-5 cups chopped spinach
- 2 medium Tomatoes (chopped)
- 2 Green chili (or to taste)
- 1 cup Pigeon peas(Toor or Tuvar dal) (, you can use any lentils of your choice.)
- 3 cups Water
- 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 3-4 Garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 tbsps Oil
- Salt (to taste)
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- Red chili powder (to taste(optional))
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Wash the lentils very well for 3-4 times to get rid of pesticides,dirt etc. Keep aside soaked in 3 cups of clean drinking water.
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Put instant pot on saute mode ‘normal’. Add oil and let it get hot.
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Add mustard seeds,cumin seeds,curry leaves, garlic. turmeric powder,green chili. Fry for 1 or 2 mins till garlic turns golden.
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Now add tomatoes and fry till they are mushy.
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Once tomatoes are done, add chopped spinach,coriander powder,red chili powder, salt and mix well. Fry for a minute.
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Now turn off saute mode, add the lentils and water. Mix well
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Put the lid, do manual high 10 minutes.
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You can do Natural release or Quick release after 5 mins in warm mode.
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Serve hot with Rice or Roti.!
- Adjust the water consistency as needed.
- Adjust the green chili or red chili as per taste.
- Used standard US measuring cup for the measurements.