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!
Recipe Card
Instant Pot Aloo Palak Dal - Spiced Potato Spinach Lentils
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (64 g) 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 (0.5 tsp) garam masala
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cardamom
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) turmeric
- 2 medium potatoes cubed
- 1/2 tsp (0.75 tsp) salt
- 1 cup (250 ml) 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
Lisa
So yummy! I made this stove top because I didn’t have time to soak the lentils. We doubled it – 2 cans of lentils, 1 can diced tomatoes, 8 small potatoes (unpeeled), and followed the recipe. It was delicious and very easy!
Vegan Richa Support
yay! glad you enjoyed!
Eva
If I use canned tomatoes, should I adjust the spices? Thank you.
Richa
Double up on spices as canned tomatoes have a stronger flavor
Sonya H
Delicious and versatile curry. Extremely easy and quick-cook recipe. Enjoyed it with arugula instead of spinach.
Richa
aweesome!
BWeaves
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!
Richa
Awesome
michelle
Healthy and easy. Can we try w frozen spinach?
Richa
yes
Michelle
Worked great. Thanks!
Richa
yes
Riyadh
This recipe looks really delicious. I always like to cook dishes that are different. Thank you for sharing it.
Nanette
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.
Claudine
OMG! Taste juste like a restaurant style plate!
A must keep recipe!
Richa
yay!
Alicia
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?
Richa
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.
Mamatha
This was delicious. Love the combination of lentils potatoes and greens. I used kale,, 1/2 while cooking and the remainder after cooking. Thanks!
Richa
awesome!
Kimmie
Looks delicious! Where does all the sodium come from?
Richa
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.
Kimmie
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).
Richa
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.
Kat
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!
Richa
Awesome!!
Anne Roberts
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.
Richa
Awesome! so glad it worked out well!
Joel
Thanks for the recipe, there’s just something I don’t understand;
when you say to close the lid and cook for 7 minutes, do you leave it on sauté? Or you put it on “manual” for 7 minutes? Thanks.
Richa
yes manual for 7 minutes. i’ll change the instructions. for stove top pressure cookers, it would be cook over medium for 7 mins.
Marcy
I made this last night using sweet potatoes, and it is delicious! I did add more spice and extra tomatoes at the end (and ran it through the IP for another minute, along with frozen spinach). Really delicious as leftovers today. Thank you!
Richa
Awesome! yes adjust the spices to taste. I usually add them lightly for everyday meals.
Bani
Thank you so much for this Richa. I sometimes make an aloo sabzi similar to this with tomatoes, but the addition of lentils and greens is SO great and your ideas and recipes are wonderful. Had a lovely dinner of this tonight with brown basmati rice. Easy and delicious, thank you thank you!
Richa
Awesome! glad it worked out so well!
Elisa
As I have trouble eating fiber-rich foods, I have to soak dal (even the ones you usually don’t have to soak; the ones you have to soak, I need to soak 2x as long), then cook it in saucepan 2x as long as normal, and then have to use food processor or immersion blender. After that, I can eat it safely, in just about any normal recipe. My question is, would an Instant Pot help with this? Does it break down the dal or disintegrate it well (so maybe I could also skip the last step)?
Richa
Yes pressure cookers break down the lentils and beans easily. Just cook them a few minutes longer than the given time. And When you open the instant pot, mix vigorously with a spatula and the lentils will break down. If you see Indian dals, many look like thick blended up lentil soups, but they are not actually blended, they just over cooked until the lentils and split peas break down.
The problem in this recipe would be that the veggies will also get overcooked. You might want to just cook the lentils separately and cook thepotatoes and spinach in a skillet. Mix them once the lentils break down.
Elisa
Thanks so much! If it worked that well, I wouldn’t mind too much cooking the dal separately.
Elisa
Just wanted to let you know that I tried your suggestion when making masoor dal in an Instant Pot. I cooked it separately, with some chunks of ginger, for 20 minutes, and let the pressure become down by itself. I stirred it like you said, and it just fell apart. I’ve been eating it the last few days, and it seems to be okay for me. Now I’m looking forward to trying other dals. Thanks so much!
Richa
Great! Many other split pulses like Moong Dal, split peas etc break down easily.
Rich
Great meal! I cook these or similar 3 times a week, the rest of the time sardines/ mackerel, salads (typical fare for Andalusia) I always do in the saucepan over slow gas, and use whatever available such as canonigos , carrots etc
Celeste
This turned out perfectly cooked and delicious. I added a small chopped onion and used a combination of magenta spreen, lambs quarters, and spinach for the greens.
Richa
Awesome!
Mary Arnquist
I made this tonight. We all enjoyed it, “we” being 5 adults and one 4 year old. I doubled it and used just 1 Jalapeno pepper, about 4 inches. It was enough heat for most of us. One problem for me was the timing. I am not a professional and chopping 5 large cloves of garlic, 2 inches of ginger, lots of tomatoes (from the garden; they were small), 1 pepper and peeling and chopping 3 large potatoes took close to an hour for me. So I got impatient and released pressure after about 10 minutes and it was fine. I also stirred in the spinach after it was done and still hot. Served over rice. Very nice! Thanks.
Richa
Awesome! I usually use a food processor when chopping larger amounts. So the jalapeno, garlic and ginger would be processed. There is also some inactive time in between which I use for chopping the rest of the ingredients. The Pot does take time to get to pressure and then release the pressure. You can release it in 10 minutes for most recipes. I also use the cook time to mean active kitchen time.
Pamela W
Do you chop the chili or put it in whole and saute? Especially if you like food on the mild to medium spiced side.
Thanks so much! I love my Instant Pot and just got a second one and glad to found your site!
Richa
chopped finely. to control the heat, you can remove the seeds from the chile before chopping.
Pamela W
Thank you so much!
Emily
Made this tonight. Came out so good!
Zoë
I double down the recipe and found it a little bland so I added some spices. It’s quite a bit thicker than I thought it would be but it’s still really yummy! Thanks!
Richa
Yes, add more spices and salt when you double. The lentils will need a bit more. It depends on the lentils and cooking time. You can add more water later to adjust consistency. the stew also thickens on cooling
Caterina B
I had to google “instant pot.” I have never seen one and had no idea what it is. In your opinion, do you
really think it’s worth spending a hundred or more dollars for one? I just don’t like acquiring more and more kitchen gadgets even if it makes cooking a lot simpler. I DID just finally replace my almost 40 year old Cuisinart food processor after pieces starting breaking off the bowl! I got a simple one for $70.00 on Amazon. It’s just what I needed for all the chopping one does in vegan cooking. (and other things, too, of course)
I will consider getting an instant pot when I see your answer. Thanks.
My family and I have been eating a plant based diet for more than a year and are slowly learning more and more interesting recipes, thanks to you, Richa! Yours is just about the ONLY website I routinely consult for new dishes.
Richa
Hi Caterina, Instant Pot is an electric appliance that is a Pressure Cooker (cooks under pressure for quicker cooking time for beans, lentils etc). It also has a slow cooker options, scheduling, yogurt function etc. It really depends on what kind of cooking you do. I always provide both saucepan and pressure cooking options on the post if I use a pressure cooker. Indian cooking generally uses pressure cooking for beans, chickpeas , lentils etc. With the Instant Pot people have started using pressure cooking for other dishes as well such as pasta, desserts etc. If you are on facebook, join the “Instant Pot Vegan Recipes” group to get an idea of what people have been cooking (its a big group of people). You can also browse some Instant Pot books , see table of contents eg https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Vegan-Cookbook-Your-Instant/dp/1624143385/ . Then you can decide if you need one or not. Also, They have sales every now and then and often you an grab one for 30-40% off.
I have stove top pressure cookers and Instant Pot. Since I already have stove top pressure cookers, I dont necessarily need the electric one. I cook many different styles now because of the blog and some weeks the only time I use pressure cooking is to cook fresh beans such as kidney, black, pinto, chickpeas or split peas. Instant pot has become a popular device since last 1-2 years with a huge IP community. So I add instructions specific to it when I make pressure cooked recipes.
Caterina B
Yes, Richa, I know you give directions for using a saucepan in place of the instant pot. I did that when I made one of your recent recipes. Thanks. We do use a pressure cooker often to make beans or brown lentils, also chickpeas.
Have you ever tried Anasazi beans? They originated, supposedly, with the Anasazi Indians of Mesa Verde, Colorado. They are really delicious. We can buy them in the supermarket or, I think, at Costco.
Richa
Oh good! If you have a pressure cooker, then you dont necessarily need the IP. Join in the group I mentioned. There are always discussions there to convert recipes to pressure cooking, using scheduling to make plan, making the perfect non dairy yogurt etc. I think i have a pack of the beans, havent gotten around to using them. Thanks for the reminder to dig them out!
Mamatha
Maybe I missed this but is it cooked on high pressure? Thanks for another instant pot recipe, can’t wait to try it!
Richa
yes hi pressure default if it isnt mentioned.
Sally Pointon
I loved this recipe, used tinned lentils and enjoyed the aromas and the cinnamon overtones when eating the delicious results. Thank you Richa! I have a Pinterest file devoted to your scruptious recipes. Grateful ????
Richa
Awesome! so glad you loved it
Marie
Absolutely fabulous dish. Made it in the instant pot with cauliflower instead of greens and absolutely delicious . The spice mix is divine. Topped it with raw onions, cilantro and Greek yogurt with mini tortillas
Richa
Sounds fabulous
Christine @ Run Plant Based
This looks wonderful, I’m a huge fan of ginger and lentils. Thanks!
Richa
Thanks!
Christina
If I double the recipe, do I need to change the time or pressure?
Richa
Use about 1.5 times the water and add 1 extra minute.
Jill
I made this tonight. The only change elwas I only used one clove of garlic as I’m not a big fan of it. It was wonderful and I plan to make it again and again. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe
Richa
Awesome! so glad it worked out well.
SusanM
It looks delicious, but I only have red lentils on hand, can I use those? They should cook as fast as the potatoes.
Richa
yes, 5 mins should work
Joel
I love red lentils. Do I have to soak them, still? Should I only cook at 5 minutes instead of 7-8?
Richa
no soaking needed for red lentils as they are quick cooking. just wash and add to the pot and cook for 5
SusanM
One more question-can I use canned tomatoes? Fresh ones are $4.99 a pound up here and I use them only when canned won’t do.
Richa
yes canned will work just fine.
Maryanne
I used canned diced tomatoes and red lentils and it worked great. Really good.
Richa
awesome!
Megan
No need to soak beans. Brenda Davis RD (BrendaDavisRD.com) has some great info on this subject. If you get an InstaPot, no need to soak and beans cook in under an hour! Brenda says if you put a piece of kombu the size of a postage stamp in your beans while they cook, it significantly cuts down on the gases. Red lentils are easier still- cook them (low/med) and they are done in no time. Red lentils seem to be temperamental with too much heat so low and slow. Happy cooking!
Richa
It really depends on the person. i’ve tried without soaking with kombu etc and I prefer the texture of soaked beans, and my digestion also prefers the soaked beans much more. We’ve eaten various lentils and beans since we were really young (Indian food uses a lot of varieties) and most all are soaked and cooked. So our digestion might be accustomed to the soaking and cooking process. Either way, try all methods to see which works best for you.
Red lentils are supposed to be quick cooking and they should be used in soups and recipes where their properties of being soft, broken down lentils works better.
Sofie
This looks really good can’t wait to try this myself 🙂 xx