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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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How long would you cook this in the Instant Pot? I’m thinking only a few minutes for red lentils. Been using a lot of brown lentils lately, your Aloo Palak Dal being a particular favourite, but with the Covid 19 panic buying everyone else seems to have discovered the joys of lentils in the Indian foods aisle at the supermarket. So working with what I have in the cupboard. Your moong dal ‘omelette’ is a big hit!
red lentils usually need 3 mins pressure cooking time. If adding lots of veggies then add 2-3 more mins.
I’ve made this multiple times now, adding in different veg, and each time it turns out perfectly yummy! Perfect on a cold night, and excellent as a left-over lunch. Healthy & delicious. Make this, and double the recipe!!! Thanks, Richa!
awesome
I almost never leave comments, but after weeks of nights shifts and eating junk or just being too tired to eat dinner at all, I had had enough, searched up “quick vegan recipes” and found this gem.
While I’m not going to say I followed the recipe to a “T” (I was out of nigella seeds and couldn’t find my cayenne, so I substituted ginger, red pepper flakes and some veggie boullion), I can safely say that this recipe was delicious. At 2:30 am, the last thing I wanted to do was cook, but it came together (beautifully) in 20 minutes with basically all of that being simmering time and zero prep. It was so flavourful, it tasted like it had been simmering for hours!
Will definitely be making this again.
awesome!
Could I substitute moong dal here?
Yes, you will need to cook about 10 min longer
Worked out great, thanks!
This soup is so simple to make but has amazing flavour. As soon as that combination of whole spices fell into the hot oil, the gorgeous fragrance let me know that this was going to be delicious . . . and it was! I added some thinly sliced little carrots and some rather limp chopped celery with a finely chopped garlic scape. My husband has had a cold/viral infection for about 3 weeks and he said this soup made him feel so much better. Thanks for all your delicious recipes, Richa!
Thats awesome! Hope he feels beter soon
This is the best lentil dal I’ve ever made! And quick and easy to make! I love the flavor that the toasted spices give this very delicious soup! I’ve also made the lentil tortilla soup and looove it too! You are a very talented chef~ thank you so much for creating and sharing such delicious vegan recipes! I can’t wait to try more! ☺️
yay!
I’m gonna cook this for all my colleagues at work! Do you think I can add peanut butter to impress them even more?? Thanks for your recipes! They are all amazing!!
Sure, add 1-2 tbsp so that it doesnt overpower the overall flavor.
Thanks 🙂
i made it, they loved it!!!
would throwing some coconut milk in here be a good idea? Not sure if it will just overwelm all the other flavours or not but I got a couple cans kicking around and i thought maybe it’d be a good mix.
it will work just fine. sub some of the water with the coconut milk
Made this today and it’s SO good! Tripled the recipe and added an onion, 2 carrots and 2 small potatoes for the veggies. Wondering if this freezes well ? Thanks for the recipe I’ll definitely make it again!
awesome! yes definitely. Freeze in a container with the least amount of air onthe top to avoid freezer burn.
Hi! How much extra spices should we use if we add vegetables?
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
about a third more of each
Made exactly as is and my veggies were fennel and pumpkin. It was superb! Thank you Richa – felt a bit ‘meh’ about cooking dinner tonight and this was a really interesting flavour combo and really like a restaurant dish (but probably better as many of them make the food too oily).
awesome!