This is my easy Spinach Dal, also known as Dal Palak. It's a simple recipe made using whole spices including cumin seeds and mustard seeds with turmeric, ginger, garlic, and shallots as aromatics. We're using chickpeas as our legume and creating a gorgeously green spinach and cottage cheese gravy for the dal. It's a great midweek meal and stores really well for meal prep.

Spinach dal is great served with my 3 ingredient cheesy naan and can include a variety of legumes from lentils to kidney beans, and in this recipe I've chosen to use chickpeas. They're a great source of protein and fibre, with over 19g of protein per 100g of chickpeas. We've then also got the nutrient dense spinach and cottage cheese sauce that goes with all of our antioxidant and anti-inflammatory spices. It's a super healthy meal that is relatively quick to make and very easy to eat!
For another simple curry recipe, my butter bean and spinach curry is always a go-to of mine and for those of you looking for some beans and animal protein recipes, you'll love my kale and white bean sausage soup, great served with fresh bread!
About Emily's Recipe
I feel like we all have one of those friends who is like, the queen of dal. She makes it every week, never has a recipe, and yet it always tastes phenomenal! So, this recipe is inspired by my queen of dal’s spinach and chickpea version.
Texture: The sauce is saucing! It's slightly creamy and super smooth. You've then got the delicate bites of large and small chickpeas along with the crunchy, oily toasted seeds and chillies.
Taste: we're using cumin, mustard, and turmeric for our main flavoured spices along with garlic, ginger, and shallot. The flavour is mildly spicy with oodles of hearty flavour.
Ease: It's nearly a one pan recipe...with the addition of a blender and an extra pan to fry off your spices. Basically, as long as you have all the ingredients, this is a very straightforward recipe.
Top Tips: 1. the fresher your spices are, the more flavour they're going to carry. So, if they're really old (no judgment from me), then I'd recommend adding in a teaspoon more of each spice, to really ensure the flavours come through. 2. Cooking your spices, onion, ginger, and garlic low and slow will give you a lovely flavour. 3. When making your tadka (tempering the spices in oil or ghee), keep the heat on low/medium, and make sure to take the pan off the heat as soon as the garlic starts to change colour as the oil will continue cooking them, so you don't want them to burn.
Would I make this again? Oh yes! I make dal at least once a week, and this one is in the top 3 of my list!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Shallot: I love using shallots because they're sweet and small, but if you've got a white or red onion, they're both great options.
Garlic: fresh whole garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped is great for this refreshing spinach dal.
Ginger: fresh ginger is a must for this recipe as it adds a wonderful freshness to the dish.
Spices: in terms of spices, we're using cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and turmeric. We are also using some red chillies in our tadka at the end of making the dal. Other spices you could use if you don't have the above are black mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom pods...these will give you a different flavour but will taste delicious. You can also use a generic curry powder if you fancy!
Chickpeas: we're using large Bold Bean Company chickpeas and smaller Suma chickpeas. If you don't have chickpeas, feel free to use lentils, black beans, butter beans, or cannellini beans. They'll all taste different but will give you a similar result.
Veggie stock: for extra flavour, use your favourite vegetable broth or stock pot. Otherwise, there's enough flavour in the dish to omit it.
Spinach: a healthy green that boosts the nutrient density of this dish immensely. If you don't have spinach, then I'd recommend using a combination of garden peas and kale.
Cottage cheese: for an extra boost of protein, cottage cheese is a great option. If you're trying to make this plant-based, then sub this out with an unsweetened soy version, or yogurt.
Toppings: we've got some cream and coriander as our toppings. This is optional, but I love their freshness!
Step by step instructions with photos
Step 1: Place a skillet or pan on medium/low heat and drizzle with oil. Add in the shallots, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and turmeric. Fry for 10 minutes, stirring frequently until the shallots have softened.
Step 2: Add in the chickpeas followed by the vegetable stock. Bring up to the boil and then reduce to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Meanwhile, combine the wilted and drained spinach in a blender with cottage cheese. Add a splash of the stock from the chickpea pan and blend until super green and smooth.
Step 4: Pour the cottage cheese and spinach mixture into the chickpea dal and stir until well combined. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes until thickened slightly. Taste and season accordingly.
Step 5: Place a nonstick pan on medium heat and add in 2 tablespoon vegetable oil or ghee. Add in the tadka spices including the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, sliced garlic, and sliced red chillies. Stir and fry for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat as soon as you start to see the garlic slices turning a light brown.
Step 6: Once your chickpea spinach dal has thickened to your desired consistency, drizzle with the spiced chilli oil, top with coriander, and yogurt. Enjoy with naan bread or rice! Make sure to let me know if you give it a go, I love hearing from you!
What to do with leftovers
Storage: leave the spinach dal to cool and then place in airtight containers and into the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezing: you can totally freeze this dish but the spinach may change flavour slightly and colour. Store in airtight containers (make sure to label with contents and date), and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Leave in the fridge overnight to thaw before reheating.
Reheating: You can either leave the lid ajar and reheat in the microwave until piping hot. Or you can transfer to a saucepan and place on medium/low heat. Stir frequently for 10 minutes or until piping hot.
FAQs
For sure, a great way to add more plant protein is by adding silken tofu to the spinach blend. It will add another 20g protein to the dish.
I love eating this spinach dal with rice and naan bread.
It sure is!
More recipes you might enjoy!
If you tried this Spinach Dal recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thank you!
Easy Spinach Dal (Dal Palak)
Ingredients
For the spinach dal
- 2 shallots finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 inch ginger finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds if you're seeds are more than 1 year old, add another teaspoon.
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds if you're seeds are more than 1 year old, add another teaspoon.
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric if you're spices are more than 1 year old, add another teaspoon.
- 800 g chickpeas cooked or from the can
- 300 ml veggie stock
- 200 g spinach wilted
- 200 g cottage cheese
For the spiced oil
- 2 garlic cloves sliced
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 red chilli sliced
For garnish
- yogurt
- fresh coriander
Instructions
- Place a skillet or pan on medium/low heat and drizzle with vegetable oil. Add in the shallots, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and turmeric. Fry for 10 minutes, stirring frequently until the shallots have softened.
- Add in the chickpeas followed by the vegetable stock. Bring up to the boil and then reduce to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile, combine the wilted and drained spinach (I place the fresh spinach in a colander and pour boiling water over it, this wilts it) in a blender with cottage cheese. Add a splash of the stock from the chickpea pan and blend until super green and smooth.
- Pour the cottage cheese and spinach mixture into the chickpea dal and stir until well combined. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes until thickened. Taste and season accordingly.
- Place a nonstick pan on medium heat and add in 2 tablespoon vegetable oil or ghee. Add in the spiced oil ingredients including the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, sliced garlic, and sliced red chillies. Stir and fry for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat as soon as you start to see the garlic slices turning a light brown.
- Once your chickpea spinach dal has thickened to your desired consistency, drizzle with the spiced chilli oil, top with coriander, and yogurt. Enjoy with naan bread or rice! Make sure to let me know if you give it a go, I love hearing from you!
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