Mustard Greens With Chana Dal

Here is a simple way to include greens in your diet - a tasty South Indian style stir fry using mustard greens and protein rich chana dal (mustard greens with split chick peas stir fry). Gluten-free (See Recipe Notes) and vegan, delicious and rich in flavor. Simple and easy way to make your meals healthy. Very easy recipe to include coconut oil and turmeric in your diet.

It is amazing how one recipe leads you to another recipe. Take today's' recipe for example. It all started when a few months back, I had posted the recipe for Radish Leaves Pakoras. A friend of mine wanted to know whether there are any other recipes using radish leaves. In response to that query, another friend of mine shared her radish leaves stir fry recipe.

It sounded so yum that I could not wait to try it out.

I decided to try the same recipe using mustard greens since I did not have radish leaves.

I was in a for treat.

It turned out to be extremely delicious. Everyone in the family loved it.

The perfect balance of greens and protein rich chana dal. [Chana dal is split and skinned brown chickpeas or kala chana (in hindi).]

Simple enough to make it on a regular basis.

And, yes, it has featured regularly on my weekly menu. Thanks Seema for this wonderful recipe.

If you are familiar with South Indian cooking, thoran/poriyal or simple stir fry features regularly in South Indian meals.

Thoran can be extremely  simple, for example, Kale thoran. Or you can do a little more elaborate like this mustard greens with chana dal stir fry. The spices used in this recipe for mustard greens with chana dal imparts a nice flavor profile. The whole world is going gaga over coconut oil , turmeric etc. And these were always  used in South Indian cooking. Feeling extremely proud to realize that our ancestors knew the importance of these spices, the health benefits and developed recipes to use these spices in every day cooking.

Mustard Greens With Chana Dal Recipe Notes

1. Though I have used mustard greens in the recipe, this recipe works well with collard greens, kale, and of course radish leaves.
2. You can use either fresh of frozen leaves for the recipe.
3. For an authentic taste, use coconut oil.
4. Hing or Asofetida is a spice typically used in Indian cooking as a flavor enhancer as well it is supposed to prevent the bloating feeling you get when you eat pulses, beans or dals. You get Hing as a big rock or in powdered form. You can use either one. But please note that in the powdered form Hing has gluten. If you are following a gluten-free diet, either buy Hing in the rock form or skip it altogether in this recipe. 
5. Do not cook the chana dal to mushy state. Usually for most of the recipes, I use a pressure cooker to cook Chana dal. But for this recipe, I cook the chana dal on the stove top in a sauce pan. Soaking the dal for at least 30-45 minutes speeds up the cooking. If you are hard pressed for time, you can cook chana dal ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. Once you have soaked and cooked chana dal, it takes about 10-15 minutes to get the stir fry ready. You can also use toor dal (split pigeon peas) for the recipe.
6. To complete the meal, serve Mustard greens with chana dal with steamed rice, Moru Curry with Chayote Squash and Apple Pickle.
7. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for  2-3 days.

Mustard Greens With Chana Dal Recipe

Mustard Greens With Chana Dal

Here is a simple way to include greens in your diet - a tasty South Indian style stir fry using mustard greens and protein rich chana dal (mustard greens with split chick peas stir fry). Gluten-free (See Recipe Notes) and vegan, delicious and rich in flavor. Simple and easy way to make your meals healthy. Very easy recipe to include coconut oil and turmeric in your diet.

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Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Calories 246 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 400 grams about 14 oz or 4 cups chopped mustard leaves; rinsed well and roughly chopped
• ½ cup about 90-100 grams chana dal; soaked for ¾ hour
• Salt to taste

To Coarsely grind

• ½ cup grated coconut; for best results use fresh or frozen & thawed
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
• 1 medium garlic clove
• 1 small shallot/pearl onion
• 1 Serrano pepper/Thai pepper/Green Chilli; optional. add only if you like to make the stir fry really spicy

For Seasonsing

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes adjust to taste
• a pinch hing ;optional. See recipe notes
• 1 teaspoon udad dal
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder/ground turmeric/haldi
• 5-6 Curry leaves

Instructions

 

• Drain the soaked chana dal. Add the drained chana dal to a medium sized sauce pan, add about a cup of water. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes till cooked well (add additional water if required) but not mushy. Remove from heat.
• Using a food processor, pulse coconut, garlic clove, cumin seeds, shallot and green chilli to a coarse paste.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and when they splutter add udad dal. Fry for a few seconds until udad dal turns brown.
• Reduce the heat to low, add red chilli flakes, curry leaves and hing.
• Add the roughly chopped mustard leaves,turmeric, cooked chana dal and salt. Stir well. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until done over medium heat.
• Remove the lid and cook for another couple of minutes or until all the water evaporates.
• Add the coarsely ground coconut mixture and mix well to combine.
• Serve hot.

Notes

1. Though I have used mustard greens in the recipe, this works well with collard greens, kale, and of course radish leaves.

2. You can use either fresh of frozen leaves for the recipe.

3. For an authentic taste, use coconut oil.

4. Hing or Asofetida is a spice typically used in Indian cooking as a flavor enhancer as well it is supposed to prevent the bloating feeling you get when you eat pulses, beans or dals. You get Hing as a big rock or in powdered form. You can use either one. But please note that in the powdered form Hing has gluten. If you are following a gluten-free diet, either buy Hing in the rock form or skip it altogether in this recipe.

5. Do not cook the chana dal to mushy state. I cook the chana dal on the stove top in a sauce pan. Soaking the dal for atleast 30-45 minutes speeds up the cooking. If you are hard pressed for time, you can cook chana dal ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. Once you have soaked and cooked chana dal, it takes about 10-15 minutes to get the stir fry ready.

6. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Explore More Stir Frys

• Beetroot leaves Poriyal
• Kale Thoran
• Sauteed Mushrooms with fennel seeds
• Bell Pepper Stir Fry

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Till we meet again…

Namaste.

Deliciously Your’s,

S