Description
Malabar Spinach / Palak / Pasalai Keerai mashed with Split red gram to make a semi-thick dal. Tamil to English (Keerai ~~ Leafy Green Vegetables, kadaiyal ~~~ Term used for partially mashing greens in a traditional clay pot.Spinach Dal / Spinach Masiyal / Mashed Keerai / Kadaintha Keerai / Palak Keerai Puli Kadaichal / Spiach dhal Curry / Indian Red Spinach Curry / Malabar Spinach / Bachchali Koora / Pasalai Keerai Kadaiyal / Vasala Cheera Dhal Curry
| Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| 10 stks | Indian malabar spinach (just leaves) |
| 1 no | Onion ( chopped) |
| 1 no | Tomato (diced) |
| 3 clove | Garlic (crushed) |
| 2 no | Green chili |
| ½ cup | Split red gram (toor gram) |
| ¼ tsp | Asafoetida |
| ¼ tsp | Mustard |
| ¼ tsp | Cumin seeds |
| ¼ tsp | Split black gram (ullundu) |
| 1 no | Dry red chili |
| 5 nos | Curry leaves |
| 1 tsp | Salt (or to taste) |
| 2 tsp | Oil |
| 1 tsp | Ghee |
| ½ MarbleSz | Tamarind |
Instructions
Malabar Spinach: This variety Indian Palak is extremely slimy after cooking, so pls do not over cook. Avoid using electric hand mixer or mixie/ blender to mash up. Read more on this topic here.
Wash and soak Split red gram for 15 minutes. Pressure cook with water up to 2 whistles and keep aside. Separate the leaves and tender stalks from the spinach, discarding thick ones. Chop them very finely, wash and keep aside. Soak tamarind in water and extract the pulp. Now heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add chopped onion, tomato, green chili and garlic. Saute for few minutes or till the tomato gets cooked. This could take 10 minutes over low medium flame. Now add the finely chopped leaves and saute until it wilts. Since its finely chopped takes only few minutes. Add tamarind extract, cooked dal, salt and asafoetida. Simmer the whole content for 5 minutes and switch off. Traditionally this will be mashed in a clay pot using wooden masher (mathu), all I had was the mathu, so simultaneously stirred and partially mashed by placing them in a wide bowl. Now heat a tsp of ghee splutter mustard, cumin seeds, curry leaves, split black gram and red chili, add this to the mashed dal and serve hot with rice.
Notes
Electric blender or hand mixer is not advisable for this Spinach, but can be used for other Leafy greens like Regular Spinach, Mulai keerai or Paruppu Keerai. Patial mashing is what we need for this recipe, just a slight blending of all ingredients, if using other variety greens, you can proceed with hand blender or mixer. Adding tamarind extract is optional, as most dal keerai preparations don’t include them but when added gives good acidly flavour to the dish.
Yield: 3 Adult servings.
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