Keerai Paruppu is a healthy South Indian preparation of Lentils with Spinach/Greens. So creamy textured and buttery without adding any cream.
Keerai Paruppu (South Indian Creamy Spinach Dal)
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♦Prep time:10min ♦Cook time:20min ♦Yield:6 servings.
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Keerai Paruppu (South Indian Creamy Spinach Dal)
Description
This Keerai Paruppu (South Indian Creamy Spinach Dal) is a nourishing, velvet-textured comfort dish that leans into the Tamil style of preparation. What makes this version unique is the use of split yellow peas (which look like Toor dal but offer a distinct, earthy flavor) along with a clever bit of "hidden" veg that gives the dish its signature silky mouthfeel. The dish is a vibrant green-and-gold blend where fresh spinach is cooked until tender alongside shallots and garlic. A small addition of tamarind provides a subtle tang that balances the earthiness of the greens, while a final tempering of mustard seeds, dried chilies, and a hint of cinnamon and garam masala gives it an unexpected, aromatic depth that sets it apart from a standard Dal Palak.
Ingredients:
Tempering:
Instructions
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Firstly, add the tamarind pulp to a small bowl. Cover with hot, boiled water and leave to soften.
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Cut off the root section of the spinach and then rinse thoroughly. Chop the leaf sections separately and the stem sections extra finely. Set aside.
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Add the peeled shallots and garlic to a small processor or finely chop them manually.
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Very finely chop the green brinjals.
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Rinse the split yellow peas dal and add to a pressure cooker along with the chopped shallots and garlic, brinjal, and green chillies.
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Also, add two cups of water. Pressure cook till tender(6-8 steam whistles). Allow for natural cooling.
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Open the cooker once cooled, and add in the chopped stem and leaf sections of your greens.
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Pressure cook again(2-3 steam whistles). Allow for natural cooling, once again.
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Open the cooker once cooled, bring it back to heat, and cook on a simmer, while mashing the dal with a ladle. Keep mashing till the dal becomes a bit creamy. Adding the finely chopped brinjal is what makes this dal super creamy in texture.
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Add the spice powders (turmeric, cinnamon, garam masala). Keep stirring and mashing. Also, add salt to taste now. Continue to cook on a medium simmer till the dal thickens. Add salt to taste (about 1 tsp).
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Do add a little water if needed (NOT TOO MUCH).
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Mash the softened tamarind pulp now in the soaking water and strain to remove the seeds and pulp.
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Add up to 2 Tbsp of this Tamarind solution to the dal and stir through. Don't add too much of the tamarind solution at once, or the dal may be too sour tasting. Continue to simmer and mash a while longer on low heat while you do the tempering.
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Tempering:
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Heat the oil in a small pan. Add the dry chilli and fry briefly. Remove from the oil and set aside.
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To the same oil add the mustard seeds and allow them to pop. Add fenugreek seeds and then the chopped onion.
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Stir fry till the onions turn golden. Lastly, add the asafoetida and remove it from the heat.
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Add the pan contents to the simmering dal and simmer again on low for 5 more minutes.
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You can add a little water as needed to loosen it if it has thickened too much.
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Creamy, healthy Spinach dal, South Indian style Keerai Paruppu is ready. This is great served with any type or flatbreads, steamed rice, and even compliments some fragrant biryani rice dishes!
Note
- Options for the Spinach/Greens are Baby Spinach(Pasalai keerai), Purslane (Paruppu keerai), Amaranth(Sirukeerai), and Mustard Greens(Kadugu Keerai) ... incidentally, the Tamil word 'Keerai' refers to varieties of Spinach, even though they are not technically spinach in English. I have used the green-red Bayam Amaranth Leaves in this recipe. I also often use Malabar Spinach. In my house, any long green/red leafy vegetable is referred to as spinach :)
- Split peas are green peas that have been dried, peeled, and split. The two varieties are green and yellow. Split green peas: less starchy, sweeter flavor. Split yellow peas: earthy, nutty flavor. Milder and more subtle than green split peas. The cooking time is the same for both types of split-dried peas.
- Tip: While tempering, we remove the dried chilies once fried to prevent them from getting burnt while sauteing the onions. Burnt chili flavor will ruin this dal curry. With practice, you can add it to the tempering together, as I have done in the video. I also added asafoetida later in the video, whereas I recommend adding it at the tempering stage.
- Asafoetida (Ferula asafoetida) is the dried sap (or gum resin) obtained from the roots of Ferula plants. It’s commonly dried, crushed, or ground into a powder, and used for either culinary or medicinal purposes. It is extensively used in Indian cuisine, where it’s referred to as Hing. As a type of Umami seasoning, asafoetida is known for its strong, pungent odor (due to its high concentration of sulfur compounds). However, when cooked, its flavor and smell become more palatable and are often described as being similar to those of leeks, garlic, onions, and even meat.
- Key Ingredients: Spinach/Greens, Split Peas, Shallots, Garlic, Chilli, Onion, Eggplant, Tamarind, Spices, Oil, Salt.
