Ek thali dal, a comforting dal with vegetables, spinach and mixed lentils. A no onion, garlic, rich gravy made with ground cashew masala paste, rendering a creamy nutty taste.
No Onion No garlic Dal | Mixed vegetable dal | Dal with vegetables and spinach | Ek thali dal | Easy Lunch thali | Weekend lunch thali | Easy Thali meals | Vegetarian Thali meals | Quick weekday lunches | Dal with cashew paste | Rich dal gravy | Creamy nutty dal | Pressure cooker Recipe | Easy Pressure cooker Dal recipe | Dal in pressure cooker | No Onion, No Garlic recipe
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Dal Chawal
Dal-chawal is India’s staple food. While we enjoy pizza, pasta, wraps, and rolls, simple dal-chawal is our true comfort.
Dal's simplicity and versatility make it one of the quickest and easiest dishes to prepare. Just pressure cook it with basic spices like chilies and cumin. Add a delicious tempering of mustard seeds, cumin seeds with curry leaves to make it irresistible.
Each Indian state and its regions have their own distinct dal recipes. In South India, dal is often prepared as kootu, a thick stew of vegetables and dal with spice powder.
In contrast, North Indian recipes vary, utilizing different spices, sometimes with vegetables, sometimes without.
We enjoy the simplicity of lachko dal and the richness of dal lucknowi. Both my boys love the delicious Sindhi specialty tridali dal and palak dal.
Ek Thali Dal Story
I used to hoard a lot of cookbooks. There was a time, i used to sit and read cookbooks. Tarla Dalal, Menu rani chellam, Mallika Badrinath, Sanjeev Kapoor books were in my collection.
These cookbooks had just a glossy picture of the dish, and just the recipe. Only later i realized, i yearn for the story behind the recipe.
I remember my friend Huma, lending me this Ariana bundy's Pomegranates & Roses. Oh loved that book, the way each recipes were told with a story, just brilliant. I made this Pomegranate jelly from that book.
Today's Ek thali dal, is inspired from Sanjeev Kapoor's Dal & Kadhis cookbook. The name still intrigues me.
Ek thali means "one plate" in Hindi and Dal is the dish. I am guessing. Since this dal recipe includes a lot of vegetables along with spinach and a mix of dal, it is wholesome. It is named Ek thali, meaning everything in one plate. Again, just a guess.
The Lunch Thali
After a very long time, presenting you all with a Lunch Thali (plate). A weekday vegetarian lunch thali with carbs and loads of protein. The lunch features,
- Steaming hot rice
- Ek thali dal
- Paruppu Rasam
- Broadbeans Poriyal | Broadbeans dry curry
- Chutneywale Paneer
- Cucumber slices
- Greek yogurt (16g protein)
Why you should try this Ek thali dal
This delish no onion, no garlic dal is quick and easy to make. Simple and easy pressure cooker recipe. It can be made ahead and reheated just before serving.
This creamy dal with mixed lentils and vegetables is a wholesome recipe, packing protein, carbs and fiber together. It is a versatile recipe, mix and match with other dal varieties and add more veggies and greens to it. Make it more hearty.
If you are into meal prepping, double or triple the below recipe and store them well. This creamy dal can also be served with rice, roti and soft phulkas. This aromatic dal packs well in lunch boxes.
Chutneywale Paneer Youtube Video
Ingredients to Make Rich & Creamy Dal
- Lentils & Legumes : The recipe uses a mix of dals. Like Whole masoor, split green gram, chana dal, and brown chickpeas. The original recipe used white chana.
- Vegetables & Greens : This all in one dal uses cabbage, Spinach and tomatoes.
- Spices : This creamy dal uses rich a masala paste.
- The Rich masala paste consists of cashews, fresh coconut, fresh ginger, turmeric and chilies. Along with cumin and coriander seeds imparting an amazing aroma to the dal.
- Tempering : Regular Indian tempering spices like mustard seeds, cumin, hing, curry leaves, green chili. And a tad bit of fenugreek seeds, that's what makes that sizzling tempering amazingly aromatic.
How to make Rich Aromatic Dal in Pressure Cooker
Please check recipe card below for exact measurements of each ingredient used and also for the detailed instructions
- Measure and keep all the dals ready. Wash and soak them in water for 30 minutes. While the dal is soaking, prepare the vegetables.
- Chop and keep palak soaked in water, Clean and chop cabbage. Wash and chop tomatoes.
- Let's make the coconut masala. Take all the ingredients given under 'To grind' to a fine paste with water.
- Take a pressure cooker. Add the veggies, palak leaves, tomatoes. Drain the water from the dal and add it to the cooker.
- Add the ground masala to this. Wash the blender jar with water and add it to the cooker. Add Salt. Mix well.
- Close the pressure cooker. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. Let the pressure drop naturally.
- Open the cooker. Mash the dal roughly with a potato masher. Check the consistency of the dal. If too thick, add ½ cup water and take it to the stove, let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- For Tempering, heat oil splutter mustard seeds, crackle cumin, add chopped green chilies, hing, curry leaves powder and fenugreek seeds.
- Add the sizzling tempering to the dal. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and take it off stove. Serve it along rice or roti.
Ek Thali Dal | Mixed Vegetables & Spinach Dal | Lunch Thali #13
Equipment
- Pressure cooker or Instant pot
Ingredients
- ¼ cup whole masoor dal
- ¼ cup Dhuli Moong/Split Moong dal with skin
- ¼ cup Chana dal/Kadalai paruppu/Gram dal
- ¼ cup brown chickpeas Soaked overnight and drained
- 75 grams palak leaves Spinach, chopped
- 100 grams cabbage chopped
- 225 grams tomatoes chopped
- 1.5 teaspoon salt or to taste
To grind
- ¼ cup fresh coconut i used 2 wedges of fresh coconut meat
- 3 tablespoon broken cashewnuts
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoon freshly chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped turmeric you can also use ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 4-5 round red chilies
Tempering
- 1 tablespoon groundnut oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon methi seeds
- 2 green chilies chopped
- ¼ teaspoon hing/asafoetida
- ½ teaspoon curry leaves powder or a sprig of curry leaf
Instructions
- Measure all the dal mentioned above and keep it ready on the counter. The original recipe uses kabuli chana or the white chickpeas. I had brown chickpeas readily available in the freezer. So, i have used that.
- Wash all the dals in water 2-3 times. Keep it soaked in water for 30 minutes minimum. While the dal is soaking let's prep the vegetables and the fresh spice paste.
- Wash and chop the palak leaves and cabbage. Wash and chop the tomatoes and keep it aside.
- For the fresh spice paste. Take in a blender jar, all ingredients mentioned under 'To grind '. Grind to a fine paste with ¼ cup of water.
- In a pressure cooker, dump all the chopped vegetables, tomatoes . Drain the dal and add it to the veggies. Add the ground fresh spice paste.
- Add 1 cup of water to the blender jar, wash and add that water to the pressure cooker. Water should be submerging all the veggies and dal.
- Add salt to this, mix well. Close the cooker and pressure cook it for 4-5 whistles.
- Once done, let the pressure fall on its own. Once ready, open the cooker.
- Mash it roughly with a potato masher or back of the ladle. Check the consistency of the dal.
- If too runny, take it to the stove, let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. If too thick, add ½ cup warm water and take it to the stove and let it simmer for 5-8 minutes.
- Lets do the tempering. In a tadka pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, crackle cumin, add chopped green chilies, hing, curry leaves powder and methi seeds.
- Pour this sizzling tempering over the dal. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and take it off the stove.
- Serve the dal with rice and roti.
Storage Instructions
- Any leftover dal can be refrigerated for 3 days in an air-tight container. While serving, remove the amount of dal you will consume for that time, reheat it in the microwave and serve hot.
Notes
- The original recipe uses 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds or khus khus in the spice paste. Since it is banned in my country, i have skipped it.
- Since fresh turmeric is in season, i have used it in the recipe. You can replace it with turmeric powder as mentioned.
- You can also add other veggies like carrot, green peas, potato and beans to the dal.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.
Mayuri Patel
This is my kind of dal, with vegetables, spices and awesome flavour. We loved it with ghee rice. Though I did omit chickpeas as I didn't have any and added toor dal. Thank you so much for sharing this ek thali dal recipe.
Priya Vj
Wow,this is a delicious dal recipe using cabbage, ground coconut paste . I am definitely trying this new dal recipe . That Tadka is super tempting
Seema
This is one of the best dal recipes I have tried in a very long time. We enjoyed the creamy flavours from coconut and cashew.
kalyani
Cashewnuts and coconut in dal- now that's a new find for me.. love comforting meals like these priya. And yes, those cookbooks - I have a cartload of them, and read them sometimes for new ideas 🙂
Renu
A different combination of dals here to make it so much protein-packed. I like the addition of brown chickpeas here. something different.
Archana
We are tired of the regular dal I make and need a change. Today's meal is ready, so I will make it this weekend. Will order fresh palak; that I the only thing I do not have. Thanks a lot you are a lifesaver.