(An Indian Sabzi made from palak and arhar/toor dal).

Mudda bhaji is a very tasty curry recipe made from spinach(palak) and pigeon peas (arhar/ toor dal). This dish is a Maharashtrian variant of dal palak. The beauty of this dish is the ‘tadka’ that goes on top of this curry. We use a little more oil in the tadka than usual but that adds so much more flavor to this dish, that you can’t help but lick your fingers! So let’s get started with this delicious recipe at once….

Ingredients

For dal -

• 1 cup pigeon peas (arhar / toor dal)

• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

• 1.5 cups water

For mudda bhaji -

• 1 tbsp oil

• 2 cup spinach leaves chopped(palak)

• 1/4 cup tamarind pulp (imli paani)

• 1 tbsp jaggery grated (gud)

For tadka / Phodni -

• 1/4 cup oil (tel)

• 1tbsp mustard seeds (rai /mohri)

• 4-5 tbsp garlic chopped (lasun)

• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi powder)

• 1 tsp red chili powder (lal tikha powder)

• 1/4 cup peanuts (moongphali / dane)

• salt as per taste

Method

• Wash the arhar/toor dal 2-3 times with water. Add water and turmeric powder and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. You can cook the dal in a heavy bottom pan too. The dal has to be thick (as shown in the above picture), so avoid adding too much water. Keep aside.

• Wash the spinach leaves thoroughly and chop the leaves finely.Keep aside.
  

• In a wok, take little oil and heat it. Add chopped spinach leaves and saute for 4-5 minutes.

• Add the cooked dal, tamarind pulp, and jaggery and mix well. Add a little water to make thick dal-like consistency.

• Take 1/4 cup oil in a small kadhai and heat the oil. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add chopped garlic, salt, and saute till the garlic is browned. Now add roasted peanuts and saute for another minute. Now add Haldi powder, red chili powder and turn off the heat.

• Add the tadka/phodni to the dal mixture, mix well and serve hot.

MUDDA BHAJI IS READY TO SERVE !!

Serve with rice or roti.

Notes -

• Using more oil, mustard seeds and garlic is important for this recipe. These ingredients impart beautiful flavor to the dish. So don’t cut down on the quantity of these ingredients.

• You can add raw peanuts and fry them well in the oil.

• You can adjust the consistency of the dal as per your liking. However, this dal has to be slightly thick.

• If there is more water in your dal, then heat the dal till the water evaporates and you get dal of desired consistency.