Methi Dal is a simple dish of yellow lentils (tur dal) and fresh methi (fenugreek leaves), gently spiced with fresh ginger, garlic and garam masala powder. A bowl of methi dal with steaming hot rice and ghee spells comfort food in every possible way!
I’m a big fan of anything methi – fenugreek greens or vendhaya keerai in Tamil or Menthya soppu in Kannada. If you follow my blog regularly, you might already know of my love for these fenugreek greens.
Other Indian Methi recipes
Methi na Dhebra – Sorghum based flatbread using methi leaves – Gujarat
Methya Matvadi Palya – another methi and lentil dry curry style preparation from Karnataka
Methi na Thepla – Methi leaves and whole wheat flour based rotis
Lentils are one of the best pairings with greens. This methi dal is a fine example of that. You can add spices of choice, greens of your choice and eat it with roti or rice. In a thinned down version, it even makes a hearty soup, and a one bowl lunch if you add some cooked barley or millet grains to it.
Growing methi in my kitchen garden
While Dal Palak or dal with spinach is a more popular version, methi adds a unique flavour to any dish it features in, and this dal recipe is no different. Each time I have cooked methi dal for family or friends, they have relished every bit of it.
Beginner cook tip: Watch my video on how to presure cook tur dal.
Methi Dal
Ingredients
- 2 cups fenugreek leaves picked and cleaned
- 1/2 cup tur dal dry
- 1 tbsp ghee divided
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch asafoetida
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Instructions
- To prepare methi dal, start by washing the methi greens in 2-3 changes of water until clean. Pick them out of the water, drain well in a colander. Finely chop and keep aside.
- Pressure cook toor dal with 1.5 cups of water.
- In a kadai, heat 2 tsp of the ghee. You can use cooking oil of your choice to make this a vegan recipe.
- Add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Once seeds splutter, add the ginger and garlic and saute on low flame for 1 minute.
- Add finely chopped methi and onions and saute for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add turmeric powder, salt, cooked dal. Add some water if the dal is too thick. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer for 3-4 minutes to bring the flavours together.
- Add garam masala powder, give it a stir, remove from flame. Add lemon juice, stir well.
- Heat remaining 1 tsp ghee. Once ghee is hot, switch off flame and add 1/4 tsp red chilli powder to the ghee. Mix in well and transfer over the dal. Serve the methi dal with steamed rice or rotis.
Also try this ever popular recipe on my blog – Lasooni Dal Palak
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Hi Nandita,
I have heared about METHI DAL many time but don’t have the recipe.Thanks for sharing an awesome recipe. I will try this at home.
Thank you very much for trying 🙂 and glad you liked it
Hi Nanditha,
Made this dal for lunch and it turned out super tasty!!having used tender methi leaves did make a difference,it didnt have any hint of bitterness. Thank you,keep up the good work!:-)
Thank you for this post! Because of it, I have read up on fenugreek and am determined to find some in my area, and then plant some in the garden. Also, I tried your freezer ginger trick, and it worked splendidly!
very simple recipe with dal .thanks for sharing this recipe
Hi Nandita,
You did not use any sort of mirch in this dish. (Neither green chillies , red chillies , nor mirchi powder). Is it not really necessary or did you forgot to add the ingredient??