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Turmeric Spinach Golden Lentil Dal – Red Lentil Soup. Easy Lentil Soup with turmeric and greens. No garlic no onion No Chop Dhal. Golden Lentil Dal with Bengali Panch phoron spices. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. Pin this Recipe.
This easy dal comes together in minutes. I use nigella and fenugreek seeds to add the onion-garlic flavor profile so this soup is great for anyone avoiding alliums. Add veggies and baby greens of choice and let it simmer. Serve as soup with crackers or papadums or over cooked basmati rice or other grains.
Temper the whole spices in oil. Once the spices start to pop or change color considerably, add turmeric and mix in. Add the lentils and water and cook until done to preference. Fold in spinach or greens of choice. Add veggies of choice and add in some fresh turmeric!
If you don’t have nigella and fenugreek seeds, add 1/4 cup onion and 3 cloves of garlic after step 2 , and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent. The dal can also be made with just mustard seeds, cumin seeds and some garam masala.
More Easy Dals and Soups from the blog
- Turkish Lentil Soup
- Mushroom Chickpea Soup
- Curried butternut squash soup
- Mango Toor Dal
- Lentil Brown Rice Soup
Golden Red Lentil Dal (Turmeric Spinach Dal)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup red lentils, washed and drained well
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/3 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/3 teaspoon nigella seeds
- 1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds, optional
- 1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon or more ground turmeric
- 1/3 teaspoon or more cayenne
- 2/3 teaspoon salt or more
- 2 1/2 cups of water
- 1 cup chopped or baby spinach, or quick cooking baby greens
Instructions
- Wash the lentils and drain and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the whole spices in the order, Mix and let them start to pop.
- Add turmeric and cayenne and give it a quick mix. Add the washed and drained lentils, mix and roast for a minute. At this point, you can add in finely chopped veggies of choice.
- Add water and salt and mix in. Partially cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until lentils are cooked to preference.
- Fold in the spinach or baby greens. Taste and adjust salt and heat. Simmer for 2 minutes or so. You can also add in 1 chopped tomato at this point or some non-dairy yogurt to make your red lentil dal creamy. Serve as soup or over rice.
Notes
If you don't have nigella and fenugreek seeds, add 1/4 cup onion and 3 cloves of garlic after step 2 , and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent. Nutritional information based on one serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This was delicious! I made a double recipe & next time I will triple or quadruple it; it was that good. I have to have leftovers.
I added carrots & quite a bit more spinach than the recipe called for (my husband loves spinach). I also add 50% more cayenne for a bit more spiciness. Definitely a keeper.
awesome! Yes teh extra veggies and spinach will need extra spicing:)
what would be some of the vegetables you would use?
cauliflower, zucchini, potato, pumpkin or sweet potato
Tried this and LOVED it! We’ve been vegan for over 15 years and don’t eat onions or garlic. SO much flavor in this recipe! I even left out the salt and used the juice 1/2 lemon and a T. of apple cider vinegar as a replacement. Worked great with your recipe!!! Thanks so much! I share your recipes on my vegan FB a lot. Wonderful recipes!
In my comment above, the form would not allow me to select stars for some reason. I give it 5 STARS!
Hi, LOVE this recipe! I make it all the time. Is it in your cookbooks? I have both of them and I’ve looked. Is it under a different name? Thank you 😀
The Odia Dal in the first book (pg 100) is similar but its not the same. Some variations in Dals, make them a new dal 🙂 . Use the Odia dal, add some spinach and use lentils of choice.
I don’t even really like dal, but my husband does so I tried to find a recipe that piqued my interest as well. This dish did not disappoint. I’ve never had a more flavourful dal! I also highly recommend adding the spinach and fresh tomatoes at the end as it added great body.
Tried it this weekend – it was fantastic! Love those whole-roasted spices.
This is one of my favorite, quick dals – and SO delicious. Easy enough for a weeknight dinner. I always double it since it’s just as good the next day.
Thanks!
Hi Richa, I made this tonight and I just loved it. It’s also so quickly done!
Just one question: when you write mustard seeds not specifying the color, do you mean the yellow ones or the dark ones? In the doubt I put the dark ones, it was excellent.
I usually mean dark mustard seeds, but you can use yellow if you dont have the black ones on hand.
Thank you!
As “veggies of your choice” I put some hokkaido pumpkin… don’t know if that’s very indian, but it was awesome in taste 🙂