Dal is a staple in Indian households. This recipe for vegan indian dal is certain to be a hit with you and your family!
Since becoming a vegan household, we have discovered and become enamored with Indian food. We began with experimenting with different tastes in restaurants because Indian food is often vegan or easily prepared as a vegan dish. We have had great discussions with owners and cooks over the yumminess of the plant-based dishes which, on any good Indian food menu, are abundant.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
Because we love to cook, we started to experiment with making Indian food at home and realized that once you have the commonly used spices on hand, the recipes are often really quite simple. The basic ingredients are usually legumes, vegetables, rice and/or potatoes, standard pantry fare, and can be substituted with a good degree of flexibility. Also, making it at home allows you to create amazing and healthy dishes using less fat. Plus there are some excellent resources like Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen that can get you started.
Good Spices Make Everything Better
I encourage you to try and find good quality spices. We have a nice, nearby, coop as well as a health food store, that both sells herbs and spices in bulk. Also, Greg recently found a fabulous Indian market in a nearby town which makes finding those special ingredients much easier. I find these shopping experiences to be the most fun and I love supporting local and small businesses. That being said, if you completely strike out in your area, you can often get them online.
Making the Vegan Indian Dal with Spinach
Initially, I reworked the original dal recipe simply to be vegan. But, as my confidence in cooking Indian food grew, I changed it further to make the dish, in my opinion, tastier and creamier. Honestly, I love this dish. It is inexpensive, beautiful on a plate, and the smells in my house when I am making it make everyone happy to be home for dinner. I serve it on rice and always figure on at least one to one and a half cups per person. It is the sort of dish that encourages second helpings!
Our vegan Indian dal has all the flavor and spice. It is inexpensive, beautiful on a plate, and fills the house with fantastic aroma! Try it!
Ingredients
UnitsScale
2cups yellow split peas
4+ cups water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 Tbs hot red chili sauce (I use Sriracha), add more to taste
1lb. spinach rinsed and chopped (I use frozen chopped leaf spinach)
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbs coconut oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp curry
1 13.5oz can light coconut milk
Cooked rice
Instructions
Rinse split peas and place in a large sauce pan or pot with water and bring to a boil.
Boil for about five minutes, turn the heat off and let them soak for 2-3 hours. Alternatively, if you own an Instant Pot pre-cook the dal, covered with 1 inch of water for ten minutes. Then transfer to the large sauce pan.
Add about a cup of water and bring it back to a boil, adding salt, turmeric and the chili sauce.
Reduce the heat to medium and stir frequently until the peas are tender (~20 minutes or so). If it starts getting to thick, add a little more water to keep it moving easily in the pot.
While the peas are cooking, warm the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat and add the chopped onion, mustard seeds and cumin, stirring often. Cook until onions are transparent. Add to the pot once the peas are tender.
Stir in the coconut milk, garam masala, and curry. When well blended add the spinach and cook until heated through.
Serve over cooked rice.
Notes
If you have an Instant Pot you can save a lot of time on the pre-soak. See the alternate instructions in step #2.
Georgia is an unpretentious foodie who, at 50, transitioned from a vegetarian diet to a whole foods plant based diet and is loving it. She works as a nurse, plays as a quilter, loves to run, hates to race.
She thinks dogs are actually angels (in dog suits).
My daughter has decided she wants to become vegetarian and I know she is not getting enough nutrients since give up meat so want to incorporate this one into our entire family.. Seems like it is not a weeknight meal but a make the night before and eat as leftovers the following night or just only weekends.
Looks great, anxious to make this version~Thanks!
Hi Marylee, thats exciting about your daughter!
When transitioning to vegetarian/vegan there is a adjusting of the amount of food that one eats since many of the dishes are relatively lower calorie but larger in volume. If a person eats enough calories of whole plant foods they will get more than enough nutrition, but it can be surprising just how much food that is!
The Indian Dal with Spinach does require a little bit of prep time. It works for a weeknight if you have time to get the soak going (you could start it in the morning and leave it until evening) but you can also use a crockpot or pressure cooker. If you look through the comments at the bottom of the page there is a discussion of using a pressure pot.
So glad that you are giving it a try! Its very tasty and highly nutritious. Please let us know how you like it!
Hi, oh we totally understand. Any neutral vegetable oil you have on hand will be just fine for that. It’s just a tsp to cook the onions and spices. It’s a delicious dish – we hope you love it. Please let us know what you think and how it turns out for you!
Hi Laura!
As a matter of fact we just made this the other night in our Instant Pot pressure cooker. Great minds must be thinking alike! 🙂
It worked really well, to tell you the truth. Give it a shot – we bet it will be great!
Thanks for checking out our site and being in touch.
– Greg and Georgia
I love my Instant Pot for dry legumes! And I love Spinach dal. (And Indian food for how vegan friendly it is.) How long did you cook your yellow split peas in the pressure cooker and on what setting (manual-high, which pressure release?) I find conflicting information. (And at what approximate elevation are you at? I live at almost 5,000 ft so I have to adjust my recipes). Thanks for posting! I’m excited to try this.
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for reading our blog and being in touch. 😄 We love how vegan friendly Indian food is, too, and have it often.
I have tried this recipe in the Instant Pot a few different ways. The last time I cooked the split peas on their own for 10 minutes (manual), then I rinsed them, and placed them back in the pot with all the ingredients, reducing the water from the 4 cups in the recipe to 1 cup because the peas were sufficiently cooked. Cooked for 20 minutes more on manual. We have the LUX50 Instant Pot which doesn’t have pressure settings and we are at sea level. I hope this helps!
Please let us know how it works out – having information about using pressure cookers and the adjustment required for elevation would be interesting and might be helpful for future readers.
– Georgia
Whoops!! Thanks for catching that and pointing out the error. We have updated the recipe – you add it at the end, with the coconut milk and garam masala, by the way.
Thanks again!
Greg and Georgia
Caitlin,
Absolutely try it and let us know. My suggestion would be to use cooked chickpeas as they take a lot longer to cook (from dry) than split peas. I often find myself subbing ingredients that I have on hand, or prefer.
Oh I love Dal, and this version sounds delicious! My roommate used to always make it for me in college, but I haven’t had it in years. Will be trying out this version for sure
Such a healthy dish! Love all of the anti-inflammatory properties of this recipe. I am always looking for ways to get turmeric in. Thanks so much! I’ll be trying this soon.
Hi Danielle, thanks for the comment. You are so correct about the healthy qualities of this dish, we like to work turmeric into all sorts of things (even smoothies!).
Just made this tonight – delicious!
We’re so glad you liked it, Dave!
Thanks for letting us know 🙂
~ Georgia & Greg
My daughter has decided she wants to become vegetarian and I know she is not getting enough nutrients since give up meat so want to incorporate this one into our entire family.. Seems like it is not a weeknight meal but a make the night before and eat as leftovers the following night or just only weekends.
Looks great, anxious to make this version~Thanks!
Hi Marylee, thats exciting about your daughter!
When transitioning to vegetarian/vegan there is a adjusting of the amount of food that one eats since many of the dishes are relatively lower calorie but larger in volume. If a person eats enough calories of whole plant foods they will get more than enough nutrition, but it can be surprising just how much food that is!
The Indian Dal with Spinach does require a little bit of prep time. It works for a weeknight if you have time to get the soak going (you could start it in the morning and leave it until evening) but you can also use a crockpot or pressure cooker. If you look through the comments at the bottom of the page there is a discussion of using a pressure pot.
So glad that you are giving it a try! Its very tasty and highly nutritious. Please let us know how you like it!
Peace, Georgia & Greg
I tried this great indian dal recipe, dal and spinach are such a great combination and it looks really yummy and delicious! Thank you very much!
hi, is there any substitute for the coconut oil? That junk is a lil pricey for me 🙂
Looks awesome! thanks!!
Hi, oh we totally understand. Any neutral vegetable oil you have on hand will be just fine for that. It’s just a tsp to cook the onions and spices. It’s a delicious dish – we hope you love it. Please let us know what you think and how it turns out for you!
🙂
I just made this recipe and it was easy and yum. A family of lentil doubters were impressed – so thanks!
Hi Anne, that’s wonderful! We are so glad that it worked out for the whole family. Do we have a new group of lentil lovers?
🙂
I used chick peas instead and it turned out great too, it even tastes better the next day with Naan!
Thats wonderful, glad you liked it! 🙂
This looks amazing 🙂
Thanks!
We love it 🙂 and just made a batch yesterday!
Give it a try and let us know what you think!
Ever make this in the crockpot? I think I’ll try it out- and let you know
Hi Laura!
As a matter of fact we just made this the other night in our Instant Pot pressure cooker. Great minds must be thinking alike! 🙂
It worked really well, to tell you the truth. Give it a shot – we bet it will be great!
Thanks for checking out our site and being in touch.
– Greg and Georgia
I love my Instant Pot for dry legumes! And I love Spinach dal. (And Indian food for how vegan friendly it is.) How long did you cook your yellow split peas in the pressure cooker and on what setting (manual-high, which pressure release?) I find conflicting information. (And at what approximate elevation are you at? I live at almost 5,000 ft so I have to adjust my recipes). Thanks for posting! I’m excited to try this.
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for reading our blog and being in touch. 😄 We love how vegan friendly Indian food is, too, and have it often.
I have tried this recipe in the Instant Pot a few different ways. The last time I cooked the split peas on their own for 10 minutes (manual), then I rinsed them, and placed them back in the pot with all the ingredients, reducing the water from the 4 cups in the recipe to 1 cup because the peas were sufficiently cooked. Cooked for 20 minutes more on manual. We have the LUX50 Instant Pot which doesn’t have pressure settings and we are at sea level. I hope this helps!
Please let us know how it works out – having information about using pressure cookers and the adjustment required for elevation would be interesting and might be helpful for future readers.
– Georgia
Sounds delicious! When does the curry get added? I’m assuming it’s curry powder you’re talking about?
Whoops!! Thanks for catching that and pointing out the error. We have updated the recipe – you add it at the end, with the coconut milk and garam masala, by the way.
Thanks again!
Greg and Georgia
Learning how to make a good Dal is one of the must-learn things for the near future! Defintely my kind of recipe. Thanks!
Well then, Hauke, you should start with this one! Thanks for checking out the post!
This looks so delicious! Absolute comfort food! 🙂 Can’t wait to give it a try.
Hi Sina! Thanks. It’s delicious – and super healthy (and cheap to make!).
I’m with you, totally obsessed with Indian food. It’s so naturally vegan! I’ll have to try your dal, the Sriracha is an intriguing addition! 🙂
Gin, you MUST give it a try. It’s a creamy, just-a-little-hot take on Dal. Let us know!
Dahl is one of my favorite Indian dishes, love the idea of adding spinach for iron boost!
Hi Michelle, thanks! The spinach is really a great addition. We love it!
I love turmeric, been a bit obsessed with it lately actually. Delicious sounding and looking dish xx
Hi Hedi! Thanks a ton for checking out the post and for the nice comment. We have been a bit obsessed with turmeric lately, too.
Turmeric and spinach are two of my favorite ingredients so I can’t wait to try this!
aren’t they wonderful together? (plus SO good for you) Please let us know what you think!
Can you use chic peas in replace of split peas?
Caitlin,
Absolutely try it and let us know. My suggestion would be to use cooked chickpeas as they take a lot longer to cook (from dry) than split peas. I often find myself subbing ingredients that I have on hand, or prefer.
~ Georgia
Oh I love Dal, and this version sounds delicious! My roommate used to always make it for me in college, but I haven’t had it in years. Will be trying out this version for sure
Thanks so much! I hope it brings back nice memories!
Such a healthy dish! Love all of the anti-inflammatory properties of this recipe. I am always looking for ways to get turmeric in. Thanks so much! I’ll be trying this soon.
Hi Danielle, thanks for the comment. You are so correct about the healthy qualities of this dish, we like to work turmeric into all sorts of things (even smoothies!).
Greg and Georgia
love that added boost of greens in daal.
Thanks! It’s a great addition to the creamy recipe.
We just had this dal today! I haven’t tried it with spinach, but, thanks for the idea. I will try it next time.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, give the recipe a try and let us know!