If you're on the hunt for an easy red lentil recipe, consider this vegetarian dahl with spinach a must-try! Ready in just 40 minutes and featuring pantry-staple ingredients, this comforting meal will bring warmth and flavour to your table. Delicious served with your pick of rice, roti or naan bread.
Craving a dish thatโs as comforting as it is nourishing? Look no further than dahl.
Rooted in Indian and South Asian traditions, this healthy plant-based dish features simmered legumes, and combines the heartiness of a stew, the warmth of a curry, and the lightness of a soup.
With recipes galore for dahl, here’s my take. It features a nice blend of spices, gently tempered to enhance taste, then sautรฉd with aromatics and tomatoes. The lentils are simmered in vegetable stock, infusing in great flavour. To top it off, a mini mountain of spinach is mixed in, which the Registered Nutritionist in me loves, because #vegetables.
When it comes to healthy ideas for dinner for busy nights, this red lentil dahl (no coconut milk) is great to bulk-cook and freeze for speedy heat-and-eat meals. Future you will be very happy๐. For another meal-prep friendly curry, make sure to check out this scrummy Brown Lentil Curry with Coconut Milk.
Gather Ingredients
- Dried red split lentils. Our legume pick-of-the-bunch. Red lentils soften and break down when cooked, resulting in a creamy porridge-like texture. Find them in the soup, canned goods or bulk bin aisle at the supermarket.
- Vegetable stock. Use whatever’s on handโhomemade, store-bought, fresh, or a dried stock powder.
- Spices. We’re using a blend of whole cumin and mustard seeds, as well as ground turmeric and chilli flakes.
- Canned tomatoes. For a lovely tomatoey flavour base.
- Fresh baby spinach. For a nutritious boost. Baby spinach is easy to throw in the pot as is, but you can also use larger spinach leaves, cut smaller.
You’ll also need the basics: aromatics, like onion, garlic and ginger; oil to fry; lemon juice to brighten; and salt to season it all to perfection. While this is a vegan dahl, you can sub the oil for ghee (clarified butter) and enjoy a vegetarian dahl instead.
Step-by-Step: Lentil & Spinach Dahl
Kitchen Tips
Keen to give this healthy lentil curry a try? Here are my tried-and-tested tips:
- ‘Thar she blows!’ (aka watch the steam). Keep an eye on the lentils as they cook. Excess steam can cause pressure build up and the contents of the pot to spill over. To avoid, set the lid slightly off-centre to allow a small gap for steam to escape, and stir occasionally.
- Sautรฉ low and slow. Taking extra time to sautรฉ the onions, garlic and ginger allows for the development of deeper, more complex, flavours. So worth it!
- Be the master of your tastebuds. Once the dahl has finished cooking, taste test, and adjust the salt, lemon juice and chilli flakes to your preference.
To Serve
Serve over rice, or enjoy with Indian flatbreads like roti or naanโthe bread is great to scoop up the dahl. A garnish of fresh coriander, cashew nuts and a sprinkle of chilli flakes takes it up a notch.
If you have a little extra prep time up your sleeve, serve with homemade mint and cucumber yoghurt raita, a creamy, refreshing yoghurt-based side dish that’s a perfect pairing with dishes like dahl๐ฅ.
Nutrition Q&A
What are the nutritional benefits of lentils? Known for their affordability, lentils pack a mighty nutritional punch, making them an excellent addition to your mealtime rotation. Cooked lentils offer:
- A rich source of plant-based protein. A cup provides an impressive 17.9g of protein. Incorporating lentils into meals, especially plant-based ones, will help create a more nutritionally well-rounded dish.
- High in dietary fibre. Lentils are a fabulous source of gut-loving fibre, boasting 15.6g per cup. Fibre is cornerstone to digestive health and creating a sense of fullness.
- Polyphenols galore. Lentils are rich in health-promoting polyphenols, known for their strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in the body (1).
Thanks for reading! Are you looking for more plant-based meal ideas? Try this Mexican-Inspired Chili Sin Carne with Dark Chocolate.
Nourishing Red Lentil & Spinach Dahl (Vegan)
Rating:
Ingredients:
Cooked lentils
- 1 cup dried red split lentils
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup water
Spiced tomato mix
- 1 brown onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
- 2 Tbsp oil (or ghee for non-vegan alternative)
- ยฝย tsp cumin seeds
- ยฝย tsp mustard seeds
- 1 400g tin of tomatoes
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 4 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach
- ยฝย tsp chilli flakes, or less or more to taste
- Juice of ยฝย medium or 1 small lemon
- Salt, to taste
Method:
Cook the lentils
- Sift through red lentils and discard any stones, or misshaped or discoloured pieces. Rinse in a sieve under running cold water until the water runs clear.
- Add lentils into a medium-sized saucepan with a fitted lid. Add stock and water, turn heat to high and bring to boil. Skim off any white foam that comes to the surface with a spoon and discard.
- Turn heat down to a simmer, place lid on, and leave to cook for 20 minutes until a porridge-like consistency. Once finished cooking, remove from heat, with the lid left on.
Make the tomato-mix
- While the lentils are cooking, peel and finely dice the onion and garlic. Grate ginger using the smallest hole on your grater or using a microplane grater.
- Heat the oil or ghee in a fry pan over a low-medium heat. Once hot, add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds, and fry for a minute or so, until fragrant.
- Add onions, garlic and ginger, and sautรฉ for 15 minutes, or until onions are soft and clear.
- Add turmeric and canned tomatoes, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Combine and season
- Once the spiced tomatoes have finished cooking, carefully add to the saucepan with the cooked lentils and mix.
- Add spinach and chilli flakes, and mix. Bring to boil, then turn heat off and mix well.
- Add the lemon juice and ยฝ – 1 tsp salt (to taste). Mix together, taste test and add more salt, lemon juice or chili flakes to your preferred seasoning.
Notes:
Serving suggestions:ย Great with rice or roti.
* Sensitive to heat? You may prefer to knock this back toย ยผ tsp chili flakes, or for a totally mild dahl add no chili flakes
Leave a Comment & Rate this Recipe
If you enjoyed this dish, please consider giving it a star rating when you post a comment. Star ratings help others discover my recipes online (and your reviews make my day! ๐ ). Happy cooking and baking. Danijela x
24 Comments
Hi I’m just wondering how many servings this recipe makes?
Hi there, thanks for your comment – 3 decent sized portions or 4 smaller bowls – if you enjoy with rice, it bulks it out. Recipe has been updated, thanks ๐
Just made this, absolutely delicious! Perfect on this freezing cold night ๐
Thank you so much for your feedback Jacqui! ๐ So glad to hear you enjoyed this one.
It was delicious!
Thank you Jenny! So glad to hear ๐ x
Delicious, this recipe is going to be used a lot by me. Thankyou
Thank you for the lovely feedback Liz! So glad you enjoyed it xx
This spinach/dahl recipe is absolutely delicious!!
Eating as I type. Yum!!!
I had all ingredients available for this recipe.
Had ready made stock paste to make stock liquid, used our thermomix to finely chop up the onion, ginger + garlic.
Had a bagful of blanched wild spinach, that I cut up with scissors + I think we had small limes that had turned yellow, in place of the lemon.
Will definitely make it again.
Thank you so much, Danijela ๐
Thank you for this lovely comment Franny! Got to love when you have all the ingredients available ๐ And great tip re the Thermomix, I’ll have to do that next time xx
I forgot to mention that I also used ghee in place of the oil.
Gave it a creamy, buttery taste, contrasted with the lime juice (I probably added more than the recipe suggested) was just amazing.
The wild spinach was NZ Warrigal greens. Next time, I might use Japanese Okinawa spinach from my garden.
I have already shared your recipe link with a few friends who love dahl, or who haven’t enjoyed dahl in the past. Hubby was very impressed with the flavour!
NB. my thermomix vegie stock concentrate may have also enhanced the flavour, compared to store bought stock.
Anyway, bravo Danijela! ๐
Wonderful tips – thank you so much Franny! x
I have tried other Dahl recipes and now use this one all the time. I add into dahl a few halved cherry tomatoes. Love it!
Thanks for your lovely feedback Carol! This makes me so happy to hear. Great call on the halved cherry tomatoes, I’ll have to try it.
Absolutely delicious, thanks for a great dahl recipe that doesn’t use coconut milk!
Thanks Kati! So glad you enjoyed it:)
Absolutely delicious & so easy! I could eat this every day.
Thank you Olivia for your kind review and rating x
Spot on!
Made it tonight exactly as per the recipe and served it with rice and a naan bread delicious.
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try Noel. Appreciate your kind words and review :). Yumm rice and naan – great choice!
Super yummy and easy to prepare! Thanks for the recipe
Thanks Rhiannon ๐ So glad you enjoyed it!
I followed your recipe exactly,the only difference wss I used black mustard seeds and topped woth avocado slices. My daughter had made a dessert with coconut milk so I excited to try a Dahl recipe without coconut mil,it was excellent, I will definitely make often. Thank you.
Thanks Ruth, so glad it was a hit! ๐ Great idea pairing it with a coconut-based dessert, as this dahl is coconut milk free xx