Spinach Mung Dal Fry

Last Updated on August 23, 2016

This is another simple, quick and easy recipe. Palak or Spinach is most cooked leafy vegetable in my kitchen and it is usually spinach fry. Mr. U doesn’t like mixing vegetables or pulses with it. Spinach dal is another very popular dish in any Telugu household but that is a rarity I my house. One day, I had some leftover fresh spinach in my fridge and I had enough curries for U. I wanted to use up the spinach and made this spinach dal. He loved it. This is more like stir fry than a liquid dal and it is not fried too much, like the stir fried spinach mung dal, which is also a very common dish in many households. I cooked spinach and dal just until tender and squeezed some lime juice over it.

I made this dal again for U, on the day I left to India. Between last minute shopping, packing and cooking, I forgot to not down the measurements and the recipe. All the ingredient measures mentioned below are approximate.

Total Time: 25 – 30 minutes
Preparation: 5 minutes (excludes soaking time)
Cooking Time: 20 – 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/8 – 1/6 cup Mung Dal / Pesaru Pappu / Green gram
• 1 – 2 tbsp. Oil
• ½ tsp. Cumin
• 1 small Onion chopped
• 5 – 6 small Green Chilies split into two pieces
• 1-2 tbsp. crushed Garlic
• 1 tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
• ½ – 1 tsp. Chili Powder
• ½ tsp. Turmeric
• 6 oz. Baby Spinach chopped
• ½ Lime squeezed or 1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Lime Juice

Preparation:

• Wash and soak dal for an hour. If time is a constraint, soak the dal and go ahead with the preparation. Or microwave the dal for 3-4 minutes (I have not done it but I don’t see why you cannot do it). Soaking the dal for at least ½ hour or microwaving the dal for few minutes will reduce the cooking time by 5 – 10 minutes.
• Heat oil in a pan, cumin seeds and let the seeds turn light brown.
• Add onion and sauté till translucent.
• Add green chilies, garlic and fry for a minute.
• Add chili powder, salt, turmeric and fry for a few seconds.
• Add dal and fry for a minute. If the dal is soaked for an hour, as I did, you can add spinach right away. Otherwise, add a little water, cover and cook the dal for 3-5 minutes until dal is 80% tender.
• Then add spinach. Mix well, cover and cook for 3- 5 minutes until spinach wilts.
• Reduce the heat and cook until spinach and dal are tender. This should take about 5-10 minutes.
• Squeeze lime juice, taste the fry and adjust the seasoning.
• Transfer to a serving bowl and serve it with rice or roti.

Spinach Mung Dal fry is my third entry to to Only: Curries, an event started by Pari

This fry also goes to Priya’s Cooking with Seeds: Mung Beans