Made from scratch with spinach and lentils, this soup is yummy and seriously good for you! You can have it anytime of the year but it is especially great for when the weather is cold! Warm up with my wholesome Daal-Palak Ka Shorba.... Serve it with bread sticks, crusty bread or have it just by itself.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup Moong Daal - moong/ split yellow lentils
- 3/4 cup Toor/ Tuvar or Arhar Daal - split yellow pigeon peas
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1" piece of ginger grated
- 1 large bunch of spinach, washed and chopped roughly (approximately 1/2 lb or 250 gms)
- 3 tbsps melted ghee (see recipe below to make your own!)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 dry red chilli broken into half
- 6 cloves garlic chopped very fine
- A pinch of asafetida
- Salt to taste
- Half a lime/ lemon
- 4 tsps thick cream, whisked until smooth
Preparation:
- Wash the Moong Daal and Toor Daal thoroughly under running water. Soak in enough warm water to cover, for 20 minutes.
- Put the daal into a deep pan and add water (level should be 2 finger digits over the top of the daal). Set up to boil, on medium heat.
- Add the turmeric powder and ginger now and stir. Cook till the daal is soft enough to mash. Add more hot water as you cook, if required, to keep the consistency similar to that of a thick soup. I find that this stage of the recipe goes much quicker if you use a pressure cooker. As a pressure cooker cuts cooking time down significantly, it also helps to retain more nutrients in the food, that could otherwise be lost due to overcooking.
- When the daal is cooked, add the spinach, season with salt to taste, stir and reduce the heat to minimum.
- In another small pan, heat the ghee till hot and add the cumin seeds. Fry till sizzling stops and then add the dry red chilli, chopped garlic and asafetida. Fry till garlic turns pale golden in color. Now carefully add this ghee-spice mixture (called tadka in Hindi), to the cooked, simmering daal. It will sizzle and might splash so be careful! Add this to the daal-spinach mix and stir well to blend.
- Use a stick blender or a blender jar on your food processor to thoroughly blend the above preparation till you get a smooth soup like consistency.
- Spoon the soup into large soup cups or bowls. Garnish with a squeeze of lime/lemon and a teaspoon of cream and serve with bread sticks or crusty bread.
Tip:
- Croutons taste really good with this soup, so add a few before serving.
- Spoon some plain, boiled rice into this soup and viola! You have a really filling, wholesome meal!
