Instapot Daal and Spinach

Watch the video below, or scroll down for the full text of the recipe.

Recipe Details

Servings: 6

Recipe Category: Lunch, Dinner

Difficulty Level: Medium

Cooking Times 60 minutes

Here is a recipe for my favorite daal recipe. This recipe calls for asafoetida (hing). It’s a pungent powder that is typically used in Indian cooking (not really Pakistani cooking), a little goes a long way. I always use it in my daals (lentils)

 To store, I enclose the hing container in a small snack bag to avoid my spice cabinet smelling!

Print this Recipe

Pin It!

What you’ll need

• Equipment

  • Instapot

  • Extra instapot bowel (if you don’t think feel like washing whilst cooking!). I use both for ease

• Ingredients

  • ½ cup toor dal (yellow)

  • ½ cup moong dal (yellow and more oval)

  • 1 ½ cup water or as needed to cook dal

  • 1 lb of baby spinach leaves

  • 3/4 stick of butter

  • 3/4 tin of petite tomatoes or 3 medium tomatoes chopped up

  • 1 tsp cumin seeds

  • 1 red chilli or 2 small ones

  • 1 tsp ginger paste

  • 1 tsp garlic paste

  • 2 green chilies whole (chopped if you like daal spicy

  • 1 pinch asafoetida (hing).

  • 1 tsp turmeric (haldi) powder

  • 1 tsp red chilli (lal mirch)powder

  • 2 tsp salt

  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice

---

1. Wash and soak daals for 30 mins

2. Wash baby spinach

3. Split cut tomatoes into two portions

4. Add daals and water to the Instapot. Add in one portion of the tomatoes into the daal mixture. Add in 1 tsp salt. Cook for 8 mins on manual mode.

5. After daal is cooked. Remove bowel and replace with new bowel.

6. On Saute mode. Melt 1/2 stick of butter. Add cumin seeds and dry red chili.

7. Add in garlic and ginger paste, once cumin seeds start to sizzle.

8. Add in chili powder, salt, and turmeric.

9. Add in spinach leaves. Cook them until they are wilted and shrunk.

10. Add daal to the spinach mixture. Add in water if needed (if the mixture is too thick)

11. Melt 1/4 stick of butter and add in the remaining portion of tomatoes. Add in hing. Cook until tomatoes are soft.

12. Add tomato mixture to daal and spinach.

13. Add in lemon juice.

14. Give the mixture a good stir.

15. Garnish with cilantro (coriander for my British peeps) and serve with rice and pickled onion salad*.

 *Pickled onions are made by cutting an onion, adding in some white vinegar, salt, and some red chili powder!