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Instant Pot Aloo Palak Dal. Spiced Potato Spinach Lentils made in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Saucepan option. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Nut-free Recipe. Jump to Recipe
Whenever I have loads of greens to use up, I make Indian Subzi (vegetable side) with them in combination with potatoes, or just plain ginger and garlic. This veggie subzi is like my skillet Aloo Palak, with added lentils to make it into a meal.
The meal comes together quickly and then its a wait for the pressure to release. Make it in an Instant Pot / Pressure Cooker or a Saucepan. Use sweet potatoes, cauliflower or other hearty vegetables, use cooked chickpeas instead of lentils. Use a combination of greens such as chard, arugula, mustard greens etc. Add some coconut milk for creamier curry. Add more spinach of greens for a Dal Saag Aloo. So many variations and options! Serve it as a stew or with rice or flatbread.
Served above with Rotis- Indian flatbread made in Rotimatic, which is a machine that makes Rotis with one button. Add flour, water, oil, set preferences and press start. Read my experience with the machine here.
More Easy Indian Meals
- Lentil Veggie Dhansak – Lentil Veggie Stew in IP. GF
- Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coconut sauce GF
- Mushroom Matar Masala GF
- Bombay Potato and Peas GF
- Tofu in Spinach Curry – Saag Tofu GF
If you try this Potato Spinach Lentil curry, let me know in the comments how it turned out!
Instant Pot Aloo Palak Dal - Spiced Potato Spinach Lentils
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup uncooked brown lentils (sabut masoor)
- 1 tsp oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- 1 hot green chile, chopped
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2 medium potatoes, cubed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 5 to 6 oz Spinach or a combination of greens.
Instructions
- Soak the lentils for at least an hour else they will not cook within the time and the potatoes will get over cooked in the more time needed to cook lentils.
- In saute mode over medium, add oil, ginger, garlic, chile and cook until translucent. Add tomato and spices and cook until tomatoes are tender. Mash the larger pieces. 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, drained lentils, water, salt and mix in. Add in the spinach or greens and mix in. Close the lid and cook on Manual (high pressure) for 7 to 8 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Open, taste and adjust salt and spice. Add more spices or garam masala if needed. Garnish with cilantro, pepper flakes and lemon and serve over rice or with roti/flatbread.
Notes
Adjust water to make less or more curry.
Add half coconut milk instead of water for a creamier curry.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Dear Richa, I made this tonight because it happened to use all the leftovers in my fridge. I had a half empty plastic tub of fresh spinach, a half a can of diced tomatoes, a cup of cooked lentils in a cup of their cooking liquid, and 3 small yellow potatoes. I had all the spices required except for the hot pepper so I used some hot pepper flakes. I saute’d the spices, and then cooked everything for 20 minutes and it was AMAZING. Very delicious. It’s a repeater!
Awesome
Healthy and easy. Can we try w frozen spinach?
yes
Worked great. Thanks!
yes
This recipe looks really delicious. I always like to cook dishes that are different. Thank you for sharing it.
I made this last night, didn’t soak lentils (had to get dinner on fast 😊) so I increased the cooking time by two minutes. Used canned tomatoes since I was out of fresh. I added the greens once it was done cooking and let them sit in the hot pot and they wilted nicely.
It turned out delicious, the spice combination is so good, thank you for a great recipe. This wil be a regular, love that you have a variety of Instant Pot recipes.
OMG! Taste juste like a restaurant style plate!
A must keep recipe!
yay!
This smells so good & is the perfect consistency. I used a poblano pepper, as that is what I could find at the grocers this week. I wish my dish was spicier. Any suggestions?
probably the green chile. Sometimes they are a dud in terms of heat and sometimes too hot. Add some cayenne or black pepper or both in the end and mix in.
This was delicious. Love the combination of lentils potatoes and greens. I used kale,, 1/2 while cooking and the remainder after cooking. Thanks!
awesome!
Looks delicious! Where does all the sodium come from?
3/4 tsp salt is about 1800 mg. The widget was picking up canned green chile instead of fresh and adding 200 mg more, so i adjusted that now.
After reading this recipe I happened to see someone else post your similar recipe with eggplant and sweet potatoes so I did that one. Very good. I must have cut potatoes and eggplant to small or need to high pressure for maybe only 8-9 minutes. Very good and will make again with less cook time (and maybe try the coconut milk).
Yes, cook less time. The dal curries traditionally have slightly overdone veggies so that the texture is closer to soft lentils rather than stand out like a stew. Adjust the time to your preferred doneness by reducing a bit. The size of the instant pot and other things also affect the veggies and cooking times. If the pot is already well heated when closing the lid, the coming to pressure time reduces, and hence the overall time the veggies are cooking.
Made this today and it is absolutely amazing! I used sweet potatoes, skipped the salt, and added Power Greens (spinach+kale+chard) after NPR instead of including them during pressure cooking. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thanks for sharing it!
Awesome!!
I’ve had my Instant Pot for a few months but have never really bonded. Last night I made this and it was amazing. Husband thought it was fantastic too. Can’t wait to try out more Instant Pot recipes now. Here’s hoping that there’re all as good as this!
Thanks.
Awesome! so glad it worked out well!