This spinach and coconut dal is a delicious, but frugal family meal, that can be thrown together in under half an hour. Made with red lentils, spinach, coconut milk, a few simple spices and vegetable stock.

Easy Spinach and Coconut Dal

Spinach and Coconut Dal. 

I cal it dal, but maybe you call it dahl, dhal, daal or even dail. 

There doesn't seem to be just one way to spell it, but which ever way you spell it, it is utterly delicious and a real comfort food.

What is Dal?

Dal is an Indian term for spit peas, beans or lentils. It is also the name of the finished dish, which can either be served thick like a curry or thinner as a soup. 

In Western India it is serve with naan bread or roti. 

In Eastern India it is served with rice. It seems to be made with a variety of split pulses and served differently from region to region.

It can be made with chana dal (made from black chickpeas), rajma dal (made from kidney beans), mung dal (split mung beans), yellow split peas, masoor dal (red lentils) and urad dal (also known as black gram). I am sure it is made with many other pulses too.

also try - Aloo Gobhi(potato & cauliflower dry style curry)or Slow Cooker Vegetable & Chickpea Curry

Basic Dal

The basic dal is made simply by cooking lentils with water, turmeric and salt. 

There are usually other spices added too, which also vary from region to region and sometimes tomatoes or mango is also added. 

Then it is topped with onion, garlic and ginger cooked with spices, which is poured over the top before it is served.

How do I make dal?

I always use red lentils as the base for my dal and make it more like a curry than soup, although I have been known to add more stock to leftover dal to make a soup for the next day.

I use stock instead of water in my dal and add coconut cream for a luxurious finish.

The spices I add are fresh or dried ginger, ground turmeric, ground cumin, ground coriander and chilli powder or chilli flakes. I also like to add spinach which adds extra flavour and extra nutrients.

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also try - Aubergine and Onion Masala (slow cooker recipe) 

How to serve dal?

On weeknights I completely ignore tradition and serve my dal with toasted wholemeal pitta bread to scoop it up, but if I have more time I will serve it with rice, mango chutney and some poppadoms.

If I have guests arriving for dinner I will also make some of my favourite chickpea curry, some saag aloo (spinach and potato side dish), vegetable sambar, and some homemade chapatis (which are actually rather simple to make).

Chapatis

I mentioned I sometimes make chapatis to serve with my curries. 

They are a simple Indian flatbread, which are also called rotis.

They are an unleavened (made without yeast) bread. They are super simple and quick to make from chapati (or wholemeal flour), a little oil and water. 

The ingredients are all kneaded together to form a dough, left to rest for 10 minutes, then rolled out and cooked in a pan for a few minutes. 

Too puff it up you pop it over a flame. Luckily I have a gas hob so I can use that, but you can just leave them as flatbreads too. 

I have to say they are pretty spectacular when they are puffed up.

I make chapatis using a cup to measure out the ingredients, but I also link to the metric measurements. Honestly you don't have to be that precise.

also try - Mushroom, Potato and Aubergine Curry (shortcut curry)

Dal with toasted pitta bread is one of our favourite weeknight meals. It takes less than half an hour to make and basically you just throw all the ingredients into a pot and let it bubble away.

It tastes glorious, which is probably why we have it nearly every week and
Cooper loves it too which is an added bonus as it's filled with lentil and spinach goodness. Its also high in protein and rich with B vitamins, thiamine and folic acid, as well as iron and zinc

One pot of dal feeds three of us for two nights. It's a very frugal meal and as I said before it can also be turned into a lovely soup with the addition of some extra stock.

You are going to love this dal!

also try - Roast Vegetable Vindaloo (a Jamie Oliver recipe) 

Also try Easy Aubergine Balti

try this next

Three-Tin Tomato Turmeric and Coconut Dahl

A fabulous weeknight dinner that won't break the bank, made with store cupboard ingredients. This dahl, is simple to make, healthy and delicious.

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dinner

Indian, vegetarian, vegan

Yield: 4-6Author: Jacqueline Meldrum

Spinach and Coconut Dal

A delicious, but frugal family meal, that can be thrown together in under half an hour. Great for during the week, when you get in from work late and need to put a meal on the table.

prep time: 5 minscook time: 25 minstotal time: 30 mins

ingredients

• 400g red lentils
• 400ml coconut milk
• 600ml vegetable stock (3 stock cubes)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 200g fresh spinach (chop if you prefer smaller pieces of spinach in the dal)
• a handful of fresh coriander
• a good grinding of black pepper

instructions

1. Rinse the lentils really well under cold running water, then add
   to a large heavy based pot with all the ingredients bar the fresh spinach, fresh
   coriander and black pepper.
2. Bring to the boil, reduce to a gently simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the spinach and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until the lentils are soft.
4. Add the coriander and stir through. You may add a little more stock or water, if you feel it needs it.
5. Season with black pepper and serve.
6. Enjoy!

NOTES:

Nutrition and calories are for 6 servings.

You can also use frozen spinach and coriander in this recipe. If I use frozen, I tend to throw in about 2 or 3 little bundles of spinach and 2 or 3 cubes of coriander.

calories
411

fat (grams)
17.5

sat. fat (grams)
14.5

carbs (grams)
46.7

protein (grams)
20.2

sugar (grams)
3.8

Created using The Recipes Generator

also try - Hot Mango Chutney (serve with your curry)