Lasooni Matar Palak is a restaurant-style vegan Indian spinach curry/dish. This curry has a strong garlic flavor and can be made in 30 minutes!
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What is Lasooni Matar Palak
Lasooni means garlic flavored, matar means green peas and palak means spinach in Hindi. It is a mildly spiced spinach curry with strong undertones of garlic.
It is delicious to taste, appetizing to look at, and pairs well with any Indian flatbread or grains. This North Indian spinach/palak curry or dish is also vegan.
I had wanted to recreate this Dhaba-style dish for some time now. I first had Lasooni Matar Palak while we were on a road trip to Vaishnav Devi.
Love Dhaba food
Dhabas generally are strategically located on highways as they serve as truck stops. They serve local cuisine, are cost-effective, and most are open 24 hours!
The flavors and the taste of the dishes served here are more earthy as it's cooked in an outdoor oven and fat is liberally used.
Dhaba’s are world-famous for dishing out some of the most mouth-watering, lip-smacking, finger-licking good Indian dishes. You must dine here once just for the experience!
If you want to try some more Dhaba-style dishes at home, then check out Dum Aloo and Tawa Chole recipes.
Spinach is a wonder food
I always have a bag of spinach in my weekly grocery cart! I love eating spinach and am always adding it to different recipes.
Spinach or palak (in Hindi) is a great source of iron, rich in water and fat-soluble vitamins, minerals, and a wide variety of phytonutrients.
You can add them in chopped form, or pureed form, cook them or eat them raw! They are that versatile!
There are many different ways to incorporate spinach into your meal plan and enjoy its nutritional benefits especially if you are following a vegan diet.
Why make this
- An Indian spinach dish
- It's vegan and gluten-free
- No cream or yogurt is required to give it a smooth texture
- It can be made in under 30 minutes
- Made using basic pantry staples
- Authentic Indian flavors
- Is kid friendly
- Very healthy and delicious
- Great way to include spinach in the diet
- Is cooked Dhaba style
Ingredients needed 🧾
Greens - I have used fresh baby spinach/palak in this vegan curry as they are tender and sweeter. You can also use frozen spinach. If using, then you can skip the blanching part.
Green peas - I love adding green peas or Matar (in Hindi) to any gravy recipe. They are low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium. They can be fresh or frozen.
They also are a good source of Protein and Vitamins. Adding them to dishes like these bring a certain mild sweetness to the curry that helps in balancing the flavors.
Garlic - Lasoon (in Hindi) or garlic gives the dish its pungent flavor. Adding garlic not only brings in the flavor but this healthy bulb is also packed with abundant antifungal and antibacterial properties.
Chickpea flour or besan helps thicken the gravy without adding any cream. This really is a great choice if you are a vegan.
Spices like turmeric, cumin (seeds and ground), sesame seeds, and garam masala give this Indian spinach dish an authentic Indian flavor.
Onion, ginger, green chillies, and dried red chillies, are other basic ingredients needed to make this dish palatable.
Almonds give the masala a nutty flavor and density. For that extra flavor, make this palak curry in vegan ghee. Use regular ghee if not vegan.
How to make it 🔪
- Boil water in a pan (no salt to be added), add spinach leaves to the pan and sugar and boil it for 2 minutes.
- Immediately transfer the boiled leaves to an ice bath (a bowl of ice water) and let it rest for another 2 - 3 minutes.
- Remove half of the leaves carefully by squeezing out their excess water. Roughly chop them and keep them aside for now.
- Transfer the remaining half into a blender just squeezing them a bit. Blitz this to a thick puree consistency. The water helps in making the puree. Add more water if needed. Keep it aside for now.
- In a blender, add garlic, ginger, green chilies, and almonds.
- Make a coarse paste by adding ¼ cup of water. Keep this aside for now.
- Heat vegan ghee or oil in a pan and fry cumin seeds for 30-45 seconds. Then add the ground masala paste to the pan and fry it for another 2-3 minutes.
- Next, add the chopped onions and saute them till they turn translucent. Then add coriander powder and besan (chickpea flour), mix, and cook it for 2 minutes.
- Then add the green peas to the pan. Continue to saute for 2-3 minutes till the peas are cooked.
- Then add the chopped spinach and mix. Cook this for another 5 minutes.
- Then add turmeric powder, blanched spinach puree, and water and salt, mix and continue to cook on high flame for another 4-5 minutes.
- Lastly, add garam masala and give it a quick mix. Take it off the flame.
- Heat oil/ghee in a tadka pan and fry cumin seeds, dried red chilies, garlic cloves, and white sesame seeds for 45 seconds.
- Then pour this tadka over the prepared curry. You can drizzle some cashew cream on top if desired.
Serving Suggestions 🍽
You can serve this Dhaba-style Matar Palak with any Indian flatbread like chapati, roti, naan, kulcha, paratha, bread, or bhakhri with some Dal on the side.
This will also pair well with steamed rice, Jeera rice, cooked alternate grains like quinoa, or even cauliflower rice.
Pack this in lunchboxes, make it for weeknights or save it for some special occasion or for your weekend parties. It's so good that everyone will love this curry.
Top recipe tips 💭
When making the masala paste, you can swap almonds with cashews, walnuts, pecans, or peanuts. If you are allergic to nuts, skip adding them or use tahini instead.
Instead of adding crushed coriander seeds, you can also add coriander powder. Adding besan while cooking the curry will make the gravy thick and creamy plus help retain the water.
You can add cream (vegan or regular) as well. Do not skip the second tadka. That is what gives this Asian side dish an authentic smoky Dhaba feel.
Add boiled potatoes, chickpeas, mushrooms, tofu, or paneer to this curry to make it even more flavorful.
Recipe FAQs 📖
Blanching the spinach helps retain the deep green color plus it gives the spinach puree a nice creamy texture.
Then the cold water helps bring down the temperature of spinach instantly and prevents it from browning due to overcooking.
Adding sugar along with salt while blanching also helps retain the beautiful green color. Don’t overcook the spinach else it will lose its color, nutrition, and flavor.
If you are pressed for time, thus chop the spinach/palak leaves finely and add them to the vegan curry.
It will not give this beautiful green color but will taste good nevertheless. You can also use frozen spinach.
You can make this dish with any greens available to you like methi or fenugreek leaves, baby kale, or beet leaves.
Lasooni Palak stays well in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can freeze it as well. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and reheat it on the stove or in a microwave.
More spinach recipes
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Recipe 📖
Lasooni Matar Palak
Equipment
Ingredients
To blanch the spinach
- 16 oz spinach
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- water as required
- ice cubes as required
To prepare the masala base
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 5 green chilies
- ¼ cup almonds
To prepare the curry
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 onion
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder
- 1 tablespoon chickpea flour
- 2 cups green peas
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 cup water
- salt
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
For the second tadka
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 dried red chilies
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Instructions
To blanch the spinach
- Boil water in a pan (no salt to be added), add spinach leaves to the pan along with sugar, and boil it for 2 minutes.
- Immediately transfer the boiled leaves to an ice bath (a bowl of ice water) and let it rest for another 2 - 3 minutes.
- Remove half of the leaves carefully by squeezing out the excess water from it. Roughly chop them and keep it aside for now.
- Transfer the remaining half into a blender just squeezing them a bit. Blitz this to a thick puree consistency. The water helps in making the puree. Add more if needed. Keep it aside for now.
To prepare the masala base
- In a blender, add garlic, ginger, green chilies, and almonds.
- Make a coarse paste by adding ¼ cup of water.
To prepare the curry
- Heat oil in a pan and fry cumin seeds for 30-45 seconds. Then add the ground masala paste to the pan and fry it for another 2-3 minutes.
- Next, add the chopped onions and saute till they turn translucent. Then add coriander powder and besan (chickpea flour), mix and cook it for 2 minutes.
- Then add the green peas to the pan. Continue to saute for 2-3 minutes till the peas are cooked.
- Then add the chopped spinach and mix. Cook this for another 5 minutes.
- Then add turmeric powder, and blanched spinach puree along with water and salt, mix and continue to cook on high flame for another 4-5 minutes.
- Lastly, add garam masala and give it a quick mix. Take it off the flame.
For th second tadka
- Heat oil/ghee in a tadka pan and fry cumin seeds, dried red chilies, garlic cloves, and white sesame seeds for 45 seconds.
- Then pour this tadka over the prepared curry.
- You can serve this Dhaba style Palak recipe with any Indian flatbread and/or with steamed rice, quinoa, or even cauliflower rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for this recipe, i tried it and it turned out really good, your measurements are perfect! I added potato as you had suggested. Me n my entire family loved it👍
I am so glad you and your family liked it. Thank you. 🙂 Nice idea to add potatoes.
What gorgeous photography! I love South Asian food and I'm more than willing to try my hand at this wonderful looking dish. Btw, we have the same spice jars!!
Our family LOVED this. Thank you so much!!
Oh wow, what a beautiful vibrant colour. I bet the flavour is amazing too.
Wow, I am loving all the flavours here! I adore Indian food and this is making me hungry. Classic flavours with an original twist, I love it.
Sooo good. I don't make much Indian food, but I'll make this again and again.
Wowza! This dish is a total delight not just to my eyes but certainly my tastebuds!
Thank you so much :)!
This is a delicious curry that gets gobbled up, and the pan scraped clean, whenever I make it. Fabulous - thanks for sharing it!
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you
I love this curry! All your step by step photos makes it so easy to recreate this gorgeous dish!
Glad you found them useful. Thank you.
Great recipe! This was a hit and I can't wait to make it again soon.
That makes me so happy! Thank you.
I have recently started experimenting with curry recipes, and I am falling in love with your recipe. I cannot wait to give it a try!
You will love it! Do try it out. Thanks.
Another yummy recipe...just tried it and absolutely love it!
Looks superb delicious with vibrant green. I have a doubt in the receipt though. Is it garlic bulbs or cloves. I feel 8 to 10 plus 3 to 4 bulbs is too much.
*receipe not receipt
Thank you so much. I thought bulbs and cloves are the same. My bad. You can add as per your liking but this recipe calls for lots of garlic. 8 to 10 individual pods is what I mean. Hope this clarifies. Let me know. 🙂
I have never heard of this, but it's an amazing colour! Anything garlicy is good with me.
This vibrant green color is amazing. I love garlicky Indian food, thank you for inspiring me:)
I have never tried something like this, but I love that green color and can’t wait to make it!
I love all of the spices in here! And the gorgeous green color 🙂 Yum!
Such a gorgeous dish! I just love that vivid green color and the flavor sounds amazing with all of those spices.
Is good food and this looks like one of the BEST! Thank you for a great recipe! I can't WAIT to try this!
This looks so delicious and so colourful too! I'd love to serve it with some roti!
WOW this looks amazing! I love the vibrant color - so pretty!
Yum! This looks fantastic! I love anything with garlic!
Oh how we'd love to travel to India one day! And now the first thing I want to do is head out on a road trip specifically to eat from as any dhabas as I can haha. Til then, can't wait to try our hands at this recipe - those ingredients sound like a match made in heaven!