Soul satisfying bowl of Ayurvedic Tomato Spinach Dal Soup that boost metabolism, nourish and cleanse

Dal is the generic term used for all lentils in India. Soup of stew dishes made with any lentil is also called dal. Kinda confusing huh? Each region in India has their own variation of dal with different lentils being used. In Malaysia, it is common to enjoy thick dal stews with flat breads like roti canai, chapati or my favourite thosai.

Lentils are a very versatile and highly nutritious legume, popular in many Indian dishes and easily adaptable to an array of dishes from hummus to veggie burgers. An advantage of lentils is that they are easier to digest than chickpeas. Lentils are easily found at Asian and Indian grocery stores or online too.

This soul satisfying bowl of dal is easy to make on the stove top. If you have a pressure cooker, the recipe comes about in just 15 minutes. My cooking method is not the traditional method, but one which I find to be easy.

For this dal soup recipe, I’m using a mix of toor dal (split pigeon pea) and masoor dal (red lentil). Other lentils you can use are mung dal (split mung bean) or chana dal (split chickpea). The added spices give a boost in metabolism with nourishing and cleansing effect. Most recipes add red chilli powder, but I use green chili instead because the hot and spicy red chillies effects our digestion and metabolism. Serve this dal soup with fragrant basmati rice and you have a comforting indian meal.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Ayurvedic Tomato Spinach Dal Soup (Tomato Spinach Lentil Soup)

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Soul satisfying bowl of Ayurvedic Tomato Spinach Dal Soup that boost metabolism, nourish and cleanse.

Recipe type: Soup

Cuisine: Indian

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• ½ cup Toor Dal (split pigeon pea)
• ½ cup Masoor Dal (red lentil)
• 1 tablespoon Ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 red Onion - diced
• 1 inch Ginger - minced
• 2 clove Garlic - minced
• 1 Green Chili - minced
• 2 Tomatoes - diced
• ½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
• 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 3 cups (750ml) Water
• 2-3 cups Spinach (different variety of spinach or soft leafy greens can be used)
• Salt to taste
• Fresh Coriander leaves - to garnish

Instructions

1. Soak toor dal and masoor dal for 1 hour.
2. Melt ghee in a large pot on low heat. Add cumin seeds and stir until the seeds lightly splatter. Add ginger and garlic, stir 10 seconds or until the raw aroma of the ginger and garlic goes away.
3. Stir in green chili, onion and tomato. Add in coriander powder, garam masala and turmeric powder. Sauté until tomatoes are slightly soften.
4. Add moong dal and water and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower fire and simmer for 45 minutes until dal is soften. Add salt to taste. If you prefer a smoother soup, you can slightly blend using a handheld blender at this point.
5. Stir in spinach and switch off the fire so the spinach remain bright green.
6. Serve and garnish with coriander.
7. Enjoy as a side dish, or with rice or naan bread.

Notes

Tips: Cooking in a pressure cooker
The lentils do not need to be soaked and only 2 cups of water is needed. You can cook step 1-4 in a pot on the stove, then pour into the pressure cooker. Add in lentils and water, and pressure cook 15 minutes until the dal is soft and mushy. Open the cooker and stir in the spinach.

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