Palak-Chilkewali Moong Dal Fry/ Spinach- Green Gram (with skin) Curry.

Ending the year 2022 on a healthier note with one of the most tastiest dish  “Palak-Chilkewali Moong Dal Fry/ Spinach- Green Gram (with skin) Curry” … the most sought after comforting meal after a tiring day is always dal- roti/ chawla and with addition of spinach you not only get a lovely green color but it increases the nutrient level and tastes that much more delicious when served with roti/ parathas/ rice or rice dishes … need I say more ??? Just Yummilicious …

** Moong dal with spinach/ palak is not only a low calories dish but is full of nutrients having rich source of iron not to mention the immense health benefits you gain when you relish it simply with rice or roti. All are aware that moong dal be it whole moong, split yellow dal or dal with skin on, is the most healthies when compared to other pulses or grains. Palak is always easily available almost everywhere and this dish is simple and easy to prepare. Though a very common dish in the northern parts of India, it has now spread its wings almost all over the world. Sharing my version of this simple dal which we love to prepare with any type of moong dal. Here I have used split moong dal with the skin on, however you can use any that is available or to your family liking, it tastes equally good with all.

** Here is my simple recipe for “Palak-Chilkewali Moong Dal Fry/ Spinach- Green Gram (with skin) Curry” … my style, do try it …

** Ingredients :

Palak/ Spinach : 2-3 chops chopped

Chilkewali Moong Dal/ Green Gram with skin : 1 cup

Tomatoes : 2 large sized.

Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 1 large sized.

Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 2-3

Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 3-4 peeled

Ginger/ Alle’/ Adrak : ½ inch piece

Haldi/ Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp

Hing/ Asafoetida : ½ to 1 tsp

Dhania/ Coriander/ Kothambari Powder : 1 tsp

Oi/ Tel/ Tela : 2-3 tblsp

Salt/ Namka/ Meeta : to taste

** For Tempering/ Seasoning/ Pannaka :

Ghee/ Toop : 2 tblsp

Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 3-4 peeled and chopped fine

Dry Red Chillies/ Sukki Mirsanga/ Byadgi Mirchi : 2-3

Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevy : 8-10 fresh ones.

** Wash and finely chop fresh palak/ spinach leaves and keep it aside ready.

** Wash, wipe dry and cut tomatoes to medium sized pieces and keep aside.

** Grind ginger- garlic and green chilly to a coarse mixture in mixie and keep it aside ready.

** Peel off the skin of onion and chop it to fine pieces and keep it aside ready.

** Wash, soak chilkewali moong dal 10-15 minutes, drain the water and put it in into a pressure cooker. Add water say to an inch above the level of dal and pressure cook on medium heat to 1 whistle. then lower the heat and let cook for, say 4-5 minutes. Once again raise the heat to medium and let cook to 2-3 whistles. Remove and keep it aside and let the pressure in cooker fall on itself.

** Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai/ pan, add coarsely ground ginger- garlic- green chillies and fry for few a minute on medium heat.

** Add finely chopped onion, ½ tsp of salt and fry all till onion turns translucent. Addition of salt while frying onions helps in releasing the water from onions, a trick followed by most chef, you may skip if not desired.

** Now add haldi, hing, dhania powder and fry all for a few seconds. Add in finely chopped palak, mix well, add 2-3 tblsp of water and let cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Now lower the heat, cover and let cook for another 5 minutes.

** Add chopped tomatoes, mix well, cover and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Add pressure cooked moong dal and mix well. If too dry in consistency add some water and bring to a boil, stirring often to avoid it getting stuck to bottom of kadai.

** When you see bubbles appearing on surface, lower the heat, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes. Remember to mix well in between and add water if necessary. When well cooked and done remove from fire and keep it aside covered.

** For Tempering/ Seasoning/ Tadka/ Pannaka : Heat ghee, when hot lower the heat, add finely chopped garlic and when the color changes lightly add dry red chillies cut to pieces, curry leaves, fry for a second and pour it over dal.

** “Palak-Chilkewali Moong Dal Fry/ Spinach- Green Gram (with skin) Curry” is done and ready to be served. Tastes best served with roti/ parathas/ rice or mildly spiced rice dishes like pulav/ ghee rice/ jeera rice. I served it with nachani/ ragi roti and it was a fantastic combination, healthy and simply awesome in taste.

** In all a very simple but health dal that can be prepared in thick, medium or slightly thinner consistency as and how you wish to serve it with. If for lunch box you may keep it thick consistency and for lunch thinner while for roti it taste lovely in medium thick consistency, the way it is shown itn the above picture, either way it tastes great.

** Dal- roti/ chawal is a staple food of India which these days is being followed by many all over the world especially who are into practicing of Yoga or are under Ayurveda healing programs. For added taste and goodness when serving with rice you can serve it topped with a tsp of ghee and a wedge of lemon, it tastes heavenly.

** Note : Addition of garlic for tadka is individual choice, In case you do not want to add both while frying and seasoning, just skip it altogether but remember to add in a tsp of jeera/ cumin seeds while while tempering, to bring in taste.

** Note : For some reason if you want to prepare it the "Dal" satvic method ie without addition of garlic and onions, you can skip them off altogether too. Just see to it that you add hing and ginger in slightly higher quantity to bring in flavor. There are many ways of preparing dal, each home having their own method, you can add in a little bit of garam masala powder if desired too, in my home we prefer to keep it simple with garlic flavor which tastes awesome, its all a matter of individual choice.

** There are plenty of different types of "Dal" recipes shared in Blog, to which I am sharing a common link below, you may browse through and try them as and when possible, they are all healthy and tasty, do remember to give me a feedback .... 

https://gayathrifoodbytes.blogspot.com/search?q=dal