This Lentil Dal with Spinach Sauce is one of the most delicious, soul-satisfying plant-based, Indian meals! This version is fragrant, flavorful and packed with nutrients- think of this like Saag Paneer, but substituting black lentils instead of the cheese! Super tasty and healthy. See 30-Second Video!
This recipe for Spinach Lentil Dal, which I’ve nicknamed “Emerald Dal” because of its beautiful, rich color, was such a comforting meal to make this week. Somehow it feels so grounding and nurturing. Not only is it wholesome and nutritious, but it is also bursting with authentic Indian flavor -and honestly, I can’t wait to make it again!
To make this Lentil Dal with Spinach Sauce, you’ll need a full pound of spinach. You can use frozen spinach if you like but fresh spinach is in the season I am taking advantage of it.
How to make Emerald Dal | 30-second video
How to make Spinach Lentil Dal
Step 1: Chop the onion, garlic, ginger and chili pepper. If you like heat, add more chili pepper.
Step 2: Saute the onion garlic & chili pepper in ghee and add the spices. Feel free to use coconut oil, but ghee truly elevates this dish.
Here I’m using black mustard seeds, cumin seeds and garam masala which you can make at home.
Step 3: Then add the fresh spinach, a little water, cover, and wilt over low heat for just a few minutes.
A pound of spinach will wilt down into about 2 cups- if that.
Step 4: Blend the spinach sauce with a little water to form a spinach puree. It doesn’t need to be smooth unless you prefer it that way. Look how bright and green it is!
Step 5: Pour the spinach sauce back into the pan- and don’t overheat this or you will lose the gorgeous color!
Step 6: Then fold in the cooked lentils I add somewhere between 3-4 cups of cooked caviar lentils. And I love these little black lentils most of all because they cook so quickly!!!
TIP #1: I cook lentils using the pasta method. Cook in ample salted water until tender, then strain. That way you don’t have to have exact measurements with the water to lentil ratio. It is very forgiving!
TIP #2: Using 3 cups of cooked lentils (instead of 4) will lend a “saucier” (more flavorful) dal which I prefer. But if you have 4 people in your family, I’d just add another cup of lentils. 🙂
Step 7: Then stir in a little plain yogurt which will add creaminess and a touch of tanginess.
Step 8: Taste. Adjust salt and heat to your liking. You want this slightly salty if serving over rice. A little squeeze of lemon or lime juice is nice here too!
Tip #3: Remember, do not overheat the spinach lentil dal or you’ll lose that lovely vibrant emerald color!
Tip #4: At the same time as I’m making the dal- I’m also pan-searing naan bread, and cooking basmati rice to go with it.
Spinach Lentil Dal- lovingly called Emerald Dal here at home…a simple and tasty combo that can be made in 30 minutes if you cook the lentils ahead!
Yes, you can eat it like lentil soup if you prefer. 🙂
What to serve with Lentil Spinach Dal?
- Basmati rice
- Naan Bread
- Indian Potatoes and Cauliflower
- Instant Pot Tikka Masala
- Raita!
- Mint Chutney
- Indian Butter Chicken
- Rajasthani Potatoes
- Authentic Chai!
- Chai Cookies!
You may also like:
- Palak Paneer!
- Indian Fried Rice
- Indian Shepherds Pie
- Frankies (Bombay Burritos)
- Naan Bread
- Indian Basmati Rice
- Raita
Enjoy the grounding, nourishing Spinach Lentil Dal this week and let me know what you think in the comments below!
xoxo
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Spinach Lentil Dal Recipe
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 3-4
- Category: vegetarian, main, legumes
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Spinach Lentil Dal Recipe- an Indian lentil recipe with a flavorful spinach sauce that is full of flavor and nutrients and that can be made in 30 minutes. Serve with Basmati Rice, and naan bread!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee (or coconut oil, but ghee will elevate)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 2 tablespoons ginger, finely chopped
- 1 medium jalapeno, finely chopped (or 1 serrano) this is mildly spicy, add more if you like.
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 lb BABY spinach (fresh or frozen)
- 20 fresh mint leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
- 2 tablespoons water (if using fresh spinach)
- —–
- 3/4 cup water
- —–
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (or vegan yogurt)
- 3 –4 cups cooked black lentils (or aka caviar lentils, beluga lentils or French green lentils) about 1 1/2 cups dry lentils.
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste!
Instructions
- If cooking black lentils and basmati rice, start them first (see notes)
- Make the Spinach Sauce: Sautee the onion in ghee, in a large pan, over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, then add garlic, ginger and chilies. Saute until fragrant and golden. Add the fennel seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and garam masala and stir two minutes. Lower heat to low. Add the fresh spinach, fresh mint, fenugreek and 2 tablespoons water. Cover pan, 2-3 minutes, letting spinach wilt. Give a few stirs. Don’t overcook!
- Blend Spinach Sauce: Place the wilted spinach mixture in a blender and add the 3/4 cups of water. Pulse and few times (hold the lid down tight). If you want a smooth sauce, blend until smooth. I left a little texture here. Pour it back into the pan, set on low heat. Don’t overheat or you will lose the pretty color.
- Combine: Stir in the yogurt, lentils and salt. Taste. Adjust salt to your liking, adding more if necessary! You want this slightly more salty because you are serving over rice which will mellow it out a lot. For more heat add a pinch of cayenne or chili flakes. To “up” the flavor even more, add a bit more garam masala spice to taste. If you want a little acidity a tiny squeeze of lemon is nice.
- Serve with the basmati rice and naan bread!
- Emerald Dal will keep up to 4 days in the fridge.
Notes
Cook black lentils according to package or try the pasta cooking method: simply boil 1 1/4 cups dry lentils in 6 cups of salted water until just tender, strain. The size of lentil will determine cooking time. Little black lentils take 20-30 minutes. Feel free to sub other whole lentils for the black lentils.
SPINACH: If using fresh spinach, be sure to use baby spinach, as mature spinach and their stems can be bitter.
Yes, you can sub coconut oil or butter for the ghee- but in my opinion, the ghee really elevates and adds so much flavor.
Feel free to bump up the spices and heat (add more chilies and spices).
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ¼ cup
- Calories: 360
- Sugar: 5.1 g
- Sodium: 694.7 mg
- Fat: 9.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.7 g
- Fiber: 10 g
- Protein: 22.3 g
- Cholesterol: 19.9 mg
Love, love, love this recipe!
Hi Sylvia, thank you so much for this recipe. It was AMAZING, beyond amazing!! I didn’t have yogurt so I used full fat coconut cream. (Sharing that incase anyone reading the comments is in the same position.)
Thank you for all the effort you put into your site – the tons of optionals you add to the recipes, the recipes themselves, the photos, the text. I am grateful.
I have saved so many recipes and look forward to cooking up more deliciousness. Wish you all the best and take care, Samantha
Thanks Samantha- appreciate this!
I didn’t find it that exciting. Kind of blah.
Hummm, sorry about that. Did you add enough salt? It’s a pretty flavorful recipe so not sure what happened here…
This recipe was delicious! I felt like I was eating in an Indian restaurant! We didn’t have enough spinach so we did half kale and half spinach.
I made this tonight with no modifications to the recipe and it is amazing!!!! So fresh, flavorful and delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This is delicious! I used green lentils and coconut yogurt (I am dairy free and we have a nut allergy in the house) and my husband and I both loved it!
I’m using ground cumin instead would I still use 2 tsp? Thank you! Excited to make this
Maybe try 1 1/2 teaspoons. You can always add more. 🙂
My husband isn’t a huge fan of lentils, but he was really happy with this meal! Delicious, will probably make again.
I didn’t have spinach or mint to hand, so to make it less homogeneous I threw in some walnut quarters.
Total revelation!
I thought the spiciness would swamp the walnut flavour, but far from it – The walnuts were like islands of opposite flavour in the mix, so your taste buds go from one extreme to the other.
Very satisfying!
Great to hear Phil!
This looks amazing. All your recipes do!! When I make lentil curry, I often use coconut milk. Do you think you could sub that for the yogurt in this recipe?
Try it! The yogurt adds a bit of tanginess, so maybe add a couple drops of lemon?
This turned out so delicious I will absolutely be making it again!
This turned out so delicious and I will absolutely be making it again!
How would you store this? Can it be frozen?
Stores in the fridge for up to 4 days. Yes, this can be frozen but may lose the vibrant color.
Delicious! Packed with flavor. I didn’t have black lentils so I substituted with mung beans. Great tips on the bean, spices or greens substitutions based on what we have. This recipe is a keeper!
Holy f****** s*** this is good
For some reason, mine turned out really bitter.
I substituted a few of the ingredients, yellow mustard seeds and ground cumin rather than the seeds.
Hummmm, I wonder if it could have been the yellow mustard seeds. I really can’t think of what would make it bitter?
Yellow mustard seeds is very bitter and is never used as a substitute for black mustard
seeds.
It’s called methi seeds and is popularly planted. The tender shoots are use in mince and chicken curries in a dryish curry.
Delicious with an acquired taste. Excellent for diabetics.
thanks so much- this is useful!
Hi. also black mustard seeds are sauteed first until they pop. Lower heat immediately then add onions etc.
Normal Indian cooking uses ground cumin as biting into whole seeds can be unpleasant.
We call whole spices used in curries speedtraps. We are used to fishing them out. Thank you.
Great recipe! My family and I loved this flavorful dish.
Decided last night that I wanted to start eating healthier and more vegetables, as I often feel uninspired and end up making pasta, pitas or soy meat + rice every.time.
This was one of the first recipes I found and decided to try it.
I had to skip the chili, use yellow mustard seeds and use ground cumin since my grocery store didn’t have the other ingredients. I also used regular butter (will make ghee for next time).Still, it was super super delicious and it’s made me very excited about cooking, can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thank you!
Do you toast and grind the seeds or leave them whole??
Leave whole… they will get blended.
Good
This was absolutely delicious! I made tofu paneer to go with it, but I marinated in a chili paste mixture…so good!
Love it!
Thank you for this recipe! I used ground cumin vs seeds, no yogurt, and no mustard seeds on hand. My family & I loved it & there were no leftovers. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
I just made this for dinner and even my picky teen son liked it. I had to use ground cumin and omitted the black mustard seeds because I didnt have them on hand after all… but it was still delicious. I can only imagine how yummy it could have been if I had followed the recipe exactly! Thanks for sharing! This one is a keeper!!
Glad you liked it!
So delicious and easy. Didn’t find any black mustard seed at the store, but other than that, made it as described.
Perfect!Glad it worked for you! 🙌
I’m so glad I came across your website (through Pinterest). That dish looks absolutely fantastic, and I wonder why I didn’t see it anywhere else. I’m thinking of adding tofu into the dish before serving with rice.
Thanks for sharing this!
Sounds good!Tofu would be great!
I made this this past weekend and it’s my new favorite vegetarian dish! Thank you for this beautiful recipe (and images!). I used New Zealand spinach (my garden is full of it) and that was perfect. I added paneer to mine and loved it. I also want to thank you for saying ghee made a difference – I was planning on using butter but after I read your suggestion, I decided to make my own. You were right! It’s so rich and nutty and adds so much. I used an immersion blender (suggestion of a friend) because I don’t have a standard blender, and that worked well and saves having to transfer hot stuff into a blender and then out again, which is a bonus as far as I’m concerned.
With respect to what is happening in the world these days, I stand with you and what you wrote. I am angry and horrified and feel so helpless. I hope that the time has finally come when we can move beyond systemic racism and thoughtless/heartless violence in this country. Peace. Please.
Thanks so much Laura- really appreciate this. 💕