Monday

Dal Palak & homemade vegan naan

After my Aloo Palak spinach epiphany, I felt bold enough to branch out to other spinach recipes. I love dal, so it was a natural choice to try out a spinach dal recipe.
I made some adjustments to the original recipe, so this is by no means authentic, but it's pretty darn yummy nonetheless.
I recently also made my own naan for the first time, so I'm including that recipe here as well.

Dal palak (4-5 servings):
1,5 cup toor dal (yellow lentils)
200g frozen spinach, thawed.
4 cloves of garlic, minced (or 4 tsp garlic paste)
2 medium onions, chopped
2-3 tsp sambal oelek (or more to taste)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tbsp oil

Rinse the lentils and pick out any stones etc.
In a large pot, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Once they start to pop and give off scent, add onion, garlic and sambal oelek. Saute until onion is translucent, then add lentils and spinach.
Add ca. 1l (2 pints) water and crumble in the stock cube, stir everything together and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer the dal approx. 45 min, covered. The dal is done when you can easily crush the lentils. I like a thick dal, so I usually cook it uncovered for a bit to reduce the liquid. Using a spatula or masher, mash part of the the dal.
Serve warm with rice, naan or roti.

Tip: I like to make this dal in a stovetop pressure cooker. Saute the ingredients in the pressure cooker as described above. After adding the water, close the lid on your pressure cooker and bring to high pressure (2). Cook for 7-10 minutes, then use natural release.

Original recipe

Naan (serves 4):



2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp warm tap water
3/8 tsp dry active yeast
6 tbsp warm non-dairy milk (I used Alpro unsweetened almond milk)
1/2 cup non-dairy yogurt (I used Alpro unsweetened soy yogurt)
1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1 tsp coriander powder (optional)
Oil for brushing

In a bowl, disolve the sugar in the warm water. Add the yeast and stir to disolve. Set aside for approx. 10 mins or until the mixture starts to froth and rise.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder & coriander powder (if using).
When the yeast mixture is foaming, add the warm milk and yogurt, stirring to combine.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and combine with a spatula. When the ingredients are combined, finish mixing the dough with your hands to form a ball. Do not overknead.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and leave to rise for an hour at a warm place.
Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll each part into a thin oval on a floured surface.
Thoroughly heat a skillet. Brush oil on both sides of the bread.
Add one piece of bread to the pan and cook 1-2 min, covered. Bubbles should form on the bread.
Flip the bread and cook another 1-2 min. Repeat with the rest of the naan.
Serve warm. These naans freeze well too.

Original recipe

No comments:

Post a Comment