This last week we’ve been winding down the cooking and trying to eat up all the extra stuff in the fridge because we leave for India this Wednesday. I’m so excited! The only new thing I cooked this week was hariyali dal. My mother in law brought me a Tarla Dalal Dals cookbook when she was here during the summer and I’ve been meaning to try out some of the recipes ever since. This recipe for hariyali dal uses spinach, methi leaves and cilantro leaves. Hariyali means “greenery” in Hindi.

I used the ingredients listed on the recipe, but followed the steps a little differently. I didn’t make a paste of garlic, green chilis and ginger and instead left them sliced. This time I cook the dal separately and then added all the other ingredients to the cooked dal (a lot of times I cook everything but the whole spices in the pressure cooker with the dal). I really enjoyed how it turned out!

1 1/2 cups masoor dal
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 onion sliced
4 garlic cloves sliced
4 green chilis sliced lengthwise
1 piece ginger minced
1 tomato chopped
1 1/2 cups spinach
1 1/2 cups methi leaves chopped
3/4 cup cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoons amchur powder (dried mango powdered available in Indian markets)
Salt

1. Put the dal with the turmeric in a pressure cooker and fill with water up to 1/3. Cook for ~4 minutes on medium after the first whistle.
2. Heat oil in a skillet or saute pan and add cumin.
3. Once cumin starts to brown add onions and cook until browned and translucent, adding the garlic and green chilis partway through cooking.
4. Add the ginger, tomato, spinach, methi leaves, cilantro leaves, chili powder, and amchur powder and saute for a few minutes.
5. Throw all this into the dal with water, add salt to taste, and cook for 10 minutes to let the flavors meld.