PALAK CHANA-DAL****

Here I have a great vegetable for you which is full of nutrition and easy pizzy to prepare .. Lovely... I love cooking such vegetables which are loaded with goodness and which require minimum efforts to make for those who are not in India this will be easier to prepare with the quality of spinach that is available..

Here in India we have to very careful while cleaning any green vegetables and have to check each leaf for worms or dirt but when you do it its a great vegetable 

PALAK- spinach leaves you can read about the benefits of spinach here

CHANA-DAL split chick peas---  i.e. split Chickpeas without seed-coat. Chana dal is produced by removing the outer layer of Kala chana (black chickpeas) and then splitting the kernel. Although machines can do this, it can be done at home by soaking the whole chickpeas and removing the loose skins by placing the chickpeas between two towels and rubbing with a rolling pin.(info from Wikipedia)

Chana-dal is supposed to have a low glycemic Index and hence good for people with diabetics 

I cook this in my mini pressure cooker, which is a boon ( I do most of my daily vegetable preparations in a cooker ) and It takes less than 15 mins to have the dish piping hot on the table YAY!!! Instant gratification.

INGREDEINTS

2 Bunches spinach

1/2 cup chana dal or split chickpea soaked for about an hour

2 medium onions finely chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 tomato finely chopped

3/4 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp haldi powder or turmeric powder

1/2 tsp dhania-jeera powder (coriander cumin powder)

marble size ball of jaggery

salt to taste

coriander for garnish

METHOD:

Take oil in a pan add garlic let it brown..

Add your onion and stir till soft 

Add your tomatoes and stir till the mixture is soft (you can add salt at this point)

Add the powdered spices , jaggery and stir now add the chana dal and cook for 5 mins

Add the chopped spinach, salt and close the lid of the cooker

let it cook for about4-5 whistles

when cooled add the coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis YUM!!!!