Spinach in Lentils Recipe -- Palak Dal
‘Peeli Dal’ or Yellow lentil is one of the most common dishes on dinner tables across the country. It is easy to make and easier to digest. Peeli dal is made from either Toor (Pigeon peas) or Moong Dal (Yellow lentil) and is usually cooked with a tomato, an onion, some ginger - garlic and some light tempering either at the beginning (like most South Indians do) or poured like a garnish on top like they do in the rest of India. It doesn’t matter how one makes the dal, it is the power of the dal that counts. To be honest, if Popeye was Indian, he’d be chowing down a tin of Palak dal instead. :)
I have a habit of pondering over the various ways I can assimilate the yummy with the healthy before I cook my every meal. Sure it sets my schedule back a few minutes but our kitchens are our labs and our aprons, our lab coats. We are flavour-makers!! Wouldn’t it be a gigantic waste of our time and resources if we didn’t experiment with ingredients to round up a flavoursome meal?
One of my favourite movies is Ratatouille, because I feel like I am the embodiment of Remy - the rat who can cook. I just love the scene in the movie where Remy comes across the pot of simmering soup the smell of which makes him want to return the contents of his stomach. It’s hilarious!! The kitchen help and later, the human face of Remy, Linguini, would’ve bumped into the soup pot and have dropped most of it on the floor. He’d have also made some unnecessary and atrocious additions to the soup, making Remy nearly throw up at the first whiff of the concoction. I love that scene when Remy scurries about the herb shelf, looking for ingredients, making adjustments to the soup, stirring it, whiffing every now and then to smell if the flavours are developing fine. I love it because I’ve done that a lot of times as an unseasoned cook.
When I was a teenager, I used to follow the recipes down to the small details because I was afraid of ruining the dish and leaving people disappointed and hungry. Now, I don’t worry as much. I know what I want to cook. I made palak dal for the first time about fourteen years back, when I was fresh out of college and was looking for my first job. It is a wholesome family dish - in taste, quantity and nutrition and it gets done in thirty minutes. My family has always loved peeli dal and more so when it is fortified with leafy greens. So try this recipe out and I am sure you will love it too - for all the reasons mentioned above.
But first, learn about the nutritional benefits of Pigeon peas here.
So go ahead - repeat, relish and leave me your feedback.
