Soak the lentils in enough water so they're submerged. Drain and rinse the lentils until the water runs clear. Add the soaked lentils along with 3 cups of water.

Close Instant Pot and cook on High Pressure for 8 minutes.

In the meantime, chop the ginger, garlic, onions, and tomatoes. Slice the green chilies (or you can chop too).

Set aside the dry spices - asafoetida (hing), cloves, and cumin seeds.

Heat up a dutch castiron on medium heat, once hot, add oil followed by the dry spices - hing, cloves, and cumin seeds. Saute for 45 seconds.

Add the onions, season with a little salt to taste, and cook for 5-6 minutes until slightly brown and caramelized. This brings out the flavor of the dal so make sure you cook the onions properly.

Add the tomatoes.

Immediately add the following spices - a little salt to season the tomatoes, coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and cumin powder. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Now add a 1/4 cup of water so the spices don't burn and cook down the tomatoes for another 3-4 minutes.

In the meantime, chop 5 ounces of baby spinach. I simply bought a 5-ounce bag from Whole Foods.

Check on the dal cooking in the Instant Pot. Stir it.

Back to the tomatoes - they've formed a paste-like consistency.

Now add all the chopped spinach. This will take a minute or two to cook down.

This is what you should have.

Add all the cooked dal to the spinach mixture.

Stir.

In a small tadka pot, heat up oil, and then add Kashmiri red chili powder - this adds color and smokiness, but no spice. Alternatively, you may also use paprika.

Add tadka to the spinach dal.

Add garam masala and amchur (mango) powder.

Top over rice. Garnish with fresh cilantro, onions, and achaar. Enjoy!