Recipe Cooked, Photographed and Written by Praveena
PrepTime:5 mins CookTime:15 mins Cuisine:Indian
South Indian Dal recipes are quite different from that of North Indian style. Main difference being the choice of spices being made & added. Curry leaves (karivepaku) is the most, main & definitely used Ingredient in any of the South Indian recipes, which gives a great herby flavour to the whole dish. But, you might skip to add in case you do not have them readily.
And talking about this particular recipe, there are quite a few recipes of broccoli including lentils in them. So, I felt this would be a great combination to get protein along with benefits of this green veggie. So a dal/stew cooked with this combination is definitely going to give the sufficient nutrients to the body. This is a very simple, quick recipe that’s Vegan+ Gluten free.
Possible alterations you could make for ‘Broccoli Dal’:
- Instead of Tinda (that I used) you might use any of these>>>> lauki, marrow, green squash, zucchini / courgette, yellow squash, pumpkin, butternut squash, summer squash, green cucumber.
- And for fresh green chillies you can use dry red chilli flakes.
- If you are not so fond of fresh coriander leaves the nearest replacement would be fresh parsley leaves.
My kids did not even realise that the dal has broccoli in it. They truly liked it and asked for another serving too. 🙂
Health Benefits of Broccoli Dal:
Broccoli is an excellent green vegetable, which is rich in iron, folic acid, fibre and vitamin C, K.
Green Squash / Lauki is a water vegetable, hence helps in digestion & even weight loss. It is very low in carbs.
Yellow mung lentils/ pesarapappu has benefits of non-animal protein, rich source of dietary fibre and other nutrients.
To conclude this dal / lentils curry recipe is rich in protein, iron & fiber. It’s plant based but low in carbs, low in fat.
Before starting to cook, don’t forget to see the Tips mentioned at the end.
Collection of recipes with GREEN veggies⇒ Recipes with GREENS
My dal recipes collection here⇒ Dal / Pappu / Lentil Stew
Curry recipes collection⇒ Curry / Koora / Stir Fry
Instant Pot recipes collection⇒ Instant Pot recipes / Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes
Related Posts:
- Broccoli & Carrot Stir Fry
- Cauliflower,Carrots & Peas Stir Fry
- Sorakaya-Pesarapappu / Lauki-MungDal / BottleGourd-LentilStew
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Ingredients:
- Broccoli – 1 head (medium size)
- Tinda / Any Squash / Sorakaya – 1 (small size)
- Mung Dal / Yellow Split Lentils / Pesarapappu – 1 cup
- Fresh Green Chillies – 10 to 12
- Fresh Coriander Leaves – handful
- Salt – 2 teaspoons
- Turmeric Powder – ½ teaspoon
- Chopped garlic – 1 tablespoon (optional)
- Water – for boiling and cooking
Ingredients for tempering:
- Cooking oil – 3 tablespoons
- Mustard seeds / Aavalu – ¼ teaspoon
- Jeera / Cumin Seeds – ½ teaspoon
- Asafoetida / Hing / Inguva – half of ¼ teaspoon
- Dry Red Chillies – 3
- Curry Leaves – 5
- Garlic cloves – 2 (optional)
- Slit Green Chilly – 1 (optional)
- Urad Dal / Minappappu / Black gram – ½ teaspoon (optional)
Special Ingredients:
- Asafoetida / Hing / Inguva
- Green Chillies
- Coriander Leaves
Step wise pics Procedure for ‘Broccoli & Squash Dal / Lentil Stew’:
PREP WORK (common for both methods):
STOVE TOP METHOD:
INSTANT POT METHOD:
TEMPERING (common for both methods):
- Put a small frying pan on stove-top under medium flame.
- Add all the ‘Ingredients for tempering’ into the pan and sauté them.
- Switch the flame off and transfer all the content of the pan onto the cooked dal / lentils.
- Give a mix and transfer into a serving dish. Done!!
Tips:
- For this recipe, you can use any lentils like masoor dal (red lentils), toor dal, chana dal (yellow split lentils) , etc.
- I have a small pressure cooker suitable for making the stew/dal, if not you transfer the cooked dal/lentils into a suitable vessel and continue with the recipe.
- Try not to over cook the broccoli, as it has tendency to become soft easily.
- You can use any squash or bottle gourd too. If not try to use tomato / cucumber.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your taste, but the expected spice for this recipe is mild.
- The storage time of this, Broccoli & Squash dal / lentil stew at room temperature is just 1 day but when refrigerated stays good up to a week.
Result:
- The taste of this, Broccoli & Squash dal / lentil stew is medium in spice and the texture is very soft.
- It is suitable as a side with any rice, quinoa, any bread or as it is too.
- As in the pic below, we had it with steaming hot white rice and spicy mango pickle as an accompaniment.
- Try this combination to give a heavenly feeling to your taste buds!!
- My kids did not even realise that the dal has broccoli in it. They truly liked it and asked for another serving too.
Broccoli, Squash & Lentils Curry / Dal / Stew
Equipment
- Sauce Pan / Vessel (for stove-top method)
- Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker (for IP method)
- Small Frying pan (for tempering)
Ingredients
- 1 head Broccoli (small medium size)
- 1 small size Tinda / Any Squash / Sorakaya
- 1 cup Mung Dal / Yellow Split Lentils / Pesarapappu
- 5 or 6 count Fresh Green Chillies
- 1 handful Fresh Coriander Leaves
- 2 teaspoons Salt (or as per taste)
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Garlic (optional) (finely chopped)
- as required Water (for boiling and cooking)
Ingredients for Tempering:
- 2 tablespoons Cooking oil
- ¼ teaspoon Mustard seeds / Aavalu
- ½ teaspoon Jeera / Cumin Seeds
- ⅛ teaspoon Asafoetida / Hing / Inguva
- 3 count Dry Red Chillies
- 5 count Curry Leaves
- 2 cloves Garlic (optional)
- 1 count Slit Green Chilly (optional)
- ½ teaspoon Urad Dal / Minappappu / Black gram (optional)
Instructions
PREP WORK (common for both methods):
- Measure the Yellow Split Mung Dal / Lentils (a cup). Wash them and soak in 2 times of water, set aside until you chop the vegetables. Drain the water before use.Wash the tinda/squash and broccoli. Peel the skin off the squash/sorakaya. Cut the squash/sorakaya into one inch pieces and the broccoli into small florets. Slit the green chillies length wise.Take the fresh green chillies, fresh coriander leaves and salt, into a spice blender / mixie. Grind them into coarse paste.
STOVE TOP METHOD:
- Take the pre-soaked moong lentils/ pesarapappu, after draining the water, into the vessel to cook. Pour 2½ cups of water to that of dal.
- Transfer all the pieces of tinda/squash/sorakaya and broccoli florets onto the dal in the vessel. Close with lid, put it on stove-top under medium flame for 15 mins/ until the dal becomes soft. Keep stirring in between.
- When the lentils are cooked and the veggies are softened enough reduce the flame to ‘LOW’. Add the salt, turmeric powder, coarsely ground paste & ½ cup of water. Mix everything thoroughly.
- Switch the flame OFF after 3 mins, when all the spices mixed well with the cooked dal.
INSTANT POT / ELECTRIC PRESSURE COOKER METHOD:
- Take the pre-soaked lentils, drain the water, transfer into the Instant Pot vessel.Transfer all the broccoli florets and tinda / squash pieces onto the dal.
- Add 2½ cups of water. Switch the gadget ON. Set to ‘PRESSURE COOK’ mode, under ‘HIGH PRESSURE’ with valve set to sealing, time for 5 mins.
- Let the pressure release naturally (NPR). Set the IP to ‘SAUTE‘ mode for 2 mins. Add the salt, turmeric powder, ground coarse paste & ½ cup of water. Mix everything.
- Switch the GADGET OFF. Do the tempering as shown below, transfer the dal into a serving dish. Done!
TEMPERING (common for both methods):
- Put a small frying pan on stove top under medium flame. Add all the ingredients for tempering. Sauté by stirring continuously. Switch the flame off and transfer all the content of the pan onto the cooked dal / lentils.Give a mix and transfer into a serving dish. Done!!
Notes
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