Spinach with dahl recipe
A wonderful dahl recipe, full of depth and flavour. You'll need both coconut oil and coconut cream to make it work.
Ingredients
- 250 g English spinach
- 150 g chana dhal, soaked in water for 4 hours
- 0.75 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon salt, dissolved in 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) warm water
- 2 cloves garlic, ground into a paste
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 2 -3 thin green chillies, cut in half on the diagonal
- 12 cm (4½ inch) piece rampe (pandanus) leaf, cut into 3 cm (1¼ inch) pieces
- 1 sprig curry leaves, leaves picked
- 250 ml coconut cream
- 1 pinch salt, to taste
Details
- Cuisine: Sri Lankan
- Recipe Type: Main
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 45 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Wash the spinach, then cut the stems into 2 cm (¾ inch) pieces and tear the leaves into smaller pieces.
- Drain the soaked dhal, then rinse and drain again. Put the dhal, 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) water and the turmeric in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30–40 minutes, or until the dhal is cooked and the water has been absorbed. Set aside.
- Heat the coconut oil in a large wok over medium heat, and add the spinach and salty water. Add the garlic paste, onion, chillies, rampe and curry leaves; cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion has softened. Stir in the dhal and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut cream and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly so the coconut cream does not split. Taste and season with salt if needed. Serve with pol roti.
Recipes and images taken from Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka by Bree Hutchins (£20), published by Murdoch Books.
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