Instant Pot Kale Garlic Dal
Jan 10, 2019
Healthy and nutritious Kale & Garlic Dal made in the Instant Pot! This easy and vegan dish gets done in less than 30 minutes! Serve over rice for a comforting meal.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Instant Pot Kale Garlic Dal – this dal has robust flavors from lots of garlic and packs a healthy punch! It’s vegan and super easy to make using the frozen onion tomato masala that I shared on the blog earlier this week.
Now that you have onion tomato masala all frozen and ready to go, you make Indian meals in 30 minutes or less!
If you love all the Instant Pot vegetarian/vegan recipes that I share on the blog, please join me on this Facebook Group – Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes. The group shares/features vegetarian instant pot recipes and ideas from all around the web!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information on my Affiliate and Advertising Policy, please click here.
You have done the hard part of cooking Indian food- sauteed and cooked the masala. Now you only need to add in all other ingredients and pressure cook.
The first recipe using the Indian Onion Tomato Masala is this Kale Garlic Dal.
Do you guys like kale? I like it but it’s not my favorite. I mean if you would give me the choice between spinach and kale, I would choose spinach.
But having said that, I do like to use in my recipes. I don’t enjoy kale as much as in my salad but I definitely enjoy it in my parathas or dals!
Instant Pot Kale Garlic Dal
This is a super simple dal recipe which you can make in 30 minutes or less. The only prep work that you have to do for this recipe is chop the kale and roughly chop some 6 to 7 large cloves of garlic.
Once you have done that, you only have to add all other ingredients to the pot and pressure cook. This Instant Pot Kale Garlic Dal –
✓ is vegan
✓ can be made gluten-free by skipping the hing. The hing (asafetida) that I have used here is not gluten-free but you do get gluten-free hing or you can simply skip it.
✓ is an easy meal for busy days – serve over rice or quinoa for a comforting meal
✓ is healthy and nutritious with the goodness of kale!
As an Indian, dal is always a staple in my kitchen. I make it at least 2 to 3 times a week. Since I make it so much, I try to make it in different ways every time.
Like use a mix of lentils of add in veggies to make it different. For this dal, I used the most basic Indian dal – toor or arhar dal as we call in Hindi.
While I make toor dal very frequently, I gave it a twist this time by adding kale and lots of garlic. It turned out really well.
Served over rice, it made such a comforting and delicious meal. I think if there’s one dish most Indians can live on- it has to be dal-chawal (lentil & rice).
How to Use Frozen Masala to Make Dal
For this recipe, I used 1/2 cup of the frozen onion tomato masala. That’s why it’s so important to freeze in individual portion sizes. It was super easy to take out two cubes of the masala and add to the Instant Pot directly.
I use these OXO large ice cube trays. These come with a lid and the cubes are big enough to hold 1/4 cup of masala in each cube.
You may thaw the masala but I just used straight from the freezer and it worked well.
Once you add the masala with all other ingredients, you only need to pressure cook your dal. There isn’t really much to do when you have the masala ready!
I hope you guys enjoy this simple and super easy kale garlic dal. I will be sharing the next recipe using the onion tomato masala very soon. I hope this is making life easier for you guys.
Method
1- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let the seeds pop. It’s important for the mustard seeds to pop else they taste bitter.
2- Then add hing (asafetida), dried red chilies (I break them before adding to the pot) and roughly chopped garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until the garlic starts turning golden brown.
3- Add the rinsed toor dal (split pigeon peas lentil) , turmeric powder, salt and 1/2 cup of the frozen onion tomato masala (I added frozen, you may thaw it).
4- Then add 3 cups of water and mix well.
5- Close the pot with its lid and press the manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 7 minutes, with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.
6- Open the pot and press saute, add the remaining 1 cup of water to the dal at this point if it looks too thick. This is optional, if you like thick dal don’t add any water. I did add 1 cup water at this point.
7- Then add chopped kale and stir. Let the dal simmer on saute for 2 minutes until the leaves wilt.
8- Squeeze lemon juice into the dal and stir.
Serve kale garlic dal over rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice or whatever grain you prefer!
If you’ve tried this Instant Pot Kale Garlic Dal Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
Instant Pot Kale Garlic Dal
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons oil use oil of choice, I used avocado oil
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon hing also known as asafetida
- 2 dried red chilies whole or use broken for spice
- 6-7 large garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 cup toor/arhar dal washed, also known as split pigeon peas lentil
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 cup onion tomato masala frozen or thawed
- 4 cups water divided
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1 small lemon juice of
Instructions
- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let the seeds pop. It's important for the mustard seeds to pop else they taste bitter.
- Then add hing (asafetida), dried red chilies (I break them before adding to the pot) and roughly chopped garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until the garlic starts turning golden brown.
- Add the rinsed toor dal (split pigeon peas lentil) , turmeric powder, salt and 1/2 cup of the frozen onion tomato masala (I added frozen, you may thaw it).Then add 3 cups of water and mix well.
- Close the pot with its lid and press the manual or pressure cook button. Cook on high pressure for 7 minutes, with the pressure valve in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Open the pot and press saute, add the remaining 1 cup of water to the dal at this point if it looks too thick. This is optional, if you like thick dal don't add any water. I did add 1 cup water at this point.
- Then add chopped kale and stir. Let the dal simmer on saute for 2 minutes until the leaves wilt.
- Squeeze lemon juice into the dal and stir.
- Serve kale garlic dal over rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice or whatever grain you prefer!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Manali, this is my absolute go to recipe for my absolute go to onion-tomato masala:) Can I use this for any type of dal? Even the green split moong, or any other type of lentil? Will it add a different flavor based on the dal?
Thanks a bunch Manali!
Aruna
yes you can use any lentil, they all will come good! just adjust the amount of cooking time depending on the dal you are using. Like whole masoor will take around 13-14 minutes etc. Stay safe!!
Hii Manali
This kale garlic daal is looking so tasty, I’m going to make this recipe. can I use spinach instead of kale in this recipe?
yes you may!