Five-Dal Spinach Soup

It was a gift of Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine years ago that got me started on Indian cuisine, and it's still by far the finest Indian vegetarian cookbook I've ever come across. One of my favourite sections is her dal soups, which are always so simple to prepare, easily digestible, and exotically fragrant and delicious. This panch dal shorba made with five different dals and spinach is an especially lovely and nutritious soup for a light lunch or dinner served with rice and a green salad with a mango dressing. And despite the quantity of spices, this soup is more aromatic than hot — the piquancy of the cumin, chillies and cayenne linger pleasantly rather than painfully on the tongue, although the chillies and cayenne can be reduced slightly for sensitive palettes.

All of these dals are always available at Indian grocers, along with the pungent asafoetida powder that is essential to these aromatic Indian lentil soups.

Five-dal spinach soup

3 tablespoons split mung dal
3 tablespoons split urad dal
3 tablespoons split toor dal
3 tablespoons split green peas
3 tablespoons split chana dal
1 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, shredded or minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 tablespoons ground coriander
3 tablespoons ghee or a mixture of butter and olive oil
4 ounces fresh baby spinach, or 6 ounces spinach or chard stemmed and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
4-5 hot green chillies, or to taste, seeded and minced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/3 teaspoon asafoetida powder
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons sea salt
small handful of fresh parsley or coriander, chopped

Rinse the dals well under cold running water in a fine strainer. Cover with hot water in a bowl and soak for 2-3 hours. Drain.

Combine the dals, ginger, turmeric, ground coriander, and 1 tablespoon of the ghee or butter and olive oil mixture with 7 cups of cold water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to moderately low and cover, cooking gently until the dals are fully cooked and soft, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on the intensity of the heat.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and blend the dals with a hand-blender or wire whisk until the soup is creamy. Put the soup back on the stove, add the spinach and continue to cook gently for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining ghee or butter and olive oil mixture in a frying pan over moderately high heat. When hot, toss in the cumin seeds and chillies and fry until the seeds turn brown, 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the cayenne, asafoetida and bay leaf, wait 15 seconds, then pour the fried spices into the soup. Swirl a few tablespoons of water in the emptied frying pan to gather the rest of the flavours and add to the soup as well. Sprinkle in the garam masala and cover for a few minutes to let the seasonings blend into the soup.

Just before serving, stir in the salt and chopped parsley or coriander. Serves 6 to 8.