Monday 1 December 2008

Palak & Dal Soup / Spinach and Lentil soup



It is December. It is supposed to be winter. It is supposed to be cold outside ... and you are supposed to cosy up in the evenings with some great, hot soup.
But the picture is very different. How can we enjoy soup when it is 31 degrees outside? Maybe I'll have to resort to cold soups for a while.

A nip in the morning air in the middle of Nov. saw me all excited and looking forward to some cold days. And I set off with my first soup of the season ... the palak soup.
My version of this soup keeps up with my basic rule in cooking ... simple and fast to make. No spending more than a required minute.

I did not fry the veggies .... just dunked them into the cooker with water .... and later blended the cooked stuff in the cooker directly.

I did not use any cornflour/maida to thicken. Instead I added a little moong dal .... it acts as a thickening agent ... and is healthy too. :-)
I did not use any garam masala or any other flavour that might overwhelm the natural flavours of the veggies.
And this version is completely fat free . If you want, you can add a dollop of butter while serving. If not ... makes no difference to the taste at all.





Need : Fresh palak leaves, trimmed and washed, a little soaked yellow moong dal, tomatoes, carrots, sliced onion, whole green chilli (optional), garlic cloves, salt and sugar to taste.

How to : Put in everything into a pressure cooker with enough water. Wait for 3 to 4 whistles.
Remove cover when steam is released completely and wait for a while to cool a little.
Blend everything .... if you have a hand blender, you can blend without removing from the cooker.
Reheat again till it starts to boil. Adjust thickness with water and check seasoning.
Serve with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper.



Great as is. Or serve with croutons / hot rotis / herb bread and salad for a full meal. :-)




16 comments:

  1. Dude, Soups and Salads count me in, I luv it. Bet it tasted good. Its very cold outside....planning to fix ur version next time, thanks for sharing ur recipe here...

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  2. Yummy! I'm all for dumping stuff in a pot and being rewarded with deliciousness!

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  3. Soup sounds delectable gonna make it soon.

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  4. Wow I love this soup. my mom used to make this quite frequently in winter...

    I loved it that u used moong as a thickening agent. real neat idea.

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  5. Thanks Malar! Do let me know how it turns out. :-)

    Thanks Bharti!And not a drop of butter/oil. :-)

    Thanks Shibani! :-)

    Thanks Soma! :-)

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  6. hmmm this sounds neat ,...will try this soon,..:-)

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  7. Palong shaak niye eshechi..ei soup banatei hobe!

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  8. Thanks Priyanka! :-)

    Aar kemon holo amake janatei hobe Rakhee! :-)

    Thanks to the power of infinity Rashmi .. for taking pity on this poor mortal soul. ;-)
    Luv ya. :-)

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  9. Love the combination of spinach and moong dhal in this soup, looks perfect for these cold wintry days!

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  10. delicious sharmila, love the pics with the musician in it :)

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  11. Thanks Usha! :-)

    Thanks Mandira! :-)Am glad you noticed. :-)

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  12. Someone is singing for supper:) Lovely soup!

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  13. hey....visiting ur blog 1st time ...and really looks interesting....
    Eyi soup ta try kore janabo.....

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  14. I cook palak atleast 2 or 3 times a week and so I am always looking for new and healthy palak recipes. I make a blended palak soup frequently(I never found it tasty but force myself to have it for health reasons) but never with mung dal. I tried this recipe today, added a little tarka of cumin seeds in some olive oil right at the end and it came out very well. The combination of palak and mung blended together tasted heavenly.

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