Black Gram (whole) in Spinach

Hello friends – It’s been a long time since I posted any recipe on my blog.  I was quite occupied this September month with one thing or the other. We just returned from our annual visit to our home town, Katapady, a tiny village in Udupi district for Ganesha festival. We had a nice relaxed time there after the festival and now I am all geared up with some delicious recipes which I shall be sharing with you all.

See here for yet another Dil & Spinach curry

 

Ingredients:

Spinach	2 bunches
Dil / Fenugreek leaves (optional)	1 small bunch
Boiled Black gram (Kala Channa)	1/2 cup
Onion	1 large
Ginger	1’ piece
Green (Or Red) chilies	3-4
Red chilly powder	1 tsp
Coriander powder	11/2 tsp
Turmeric powder	½ tsp
Garam Masala powder	1 tsp
Tamarind juice/pulp	2-3 tbsps
Oil	1 tbsp
Salt	As per taste

Method:

1. Clean, wash and roughly chop all the greens.
2. Cook them in very little water for about 10 mins and allow it to cool. When cooled, grind them ( for a few seconds) to a coarse paste and keep it aside.
3. Next chop onions and ginger finely and slit, green chilies.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add to it the chopped onions, ginger, green chilies and turmeric powder. Saute it for a while till onions are lightly browned.
5. Then add the boiled black gram (channa), spinach paste, coriander powder, chilly powder, garam masala, tamarind juice and salt. Bring it to boil and let it simmer for about 10-12 minutes till the gravy becomes thick.  Remove from flame.
6. Serve hot.

Spinach and  Dil - cleaned and washed

Frying - onions and chilies

Curry kept on simmer

Ingredients - kept ready

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Note:

• This tastes excellent with chapattis or puris or even with plain rice or khichadi.
• In this recipe, I have used Dil leaves. It also tastes delicious with fenugreek (methi) leaves.
• You can also substitute Kabuli Channa (Chick Peas) for Black Gram.
• I had a small boiled potato in the fridge, so I cut it into pieces and added this in the recipe.

Palak "Patradau" (Spinach Rolls)

This is a typical Mangalorean (Konkani) dish – something to die for (at least for some)!! It is generally made out of colocasia leaves. Some of these leaves, even after cooking, leave an itchy sensation in the throat after consuming it.

My problem was that no matter how good the leaves were, my husband always felt that it is irritating his throat - with the result, I had almost stopped making this dish. Then one fine day, when he brought fresh Palak (spinach) from the market, (the leaves were huge) and my husband just jokingly said maybe you should try making pathradau out of palak rather than colocasia leaves.

Since then, I have been making this dish out of palak.

Ingredients:

Palak (spinach) leaves	40
Green gram whole	1 cup
Raw rice	¼ cup
Grated Coconut	1 cup
Dry Red chillies	3-4
Tamarind pellet	the size of a bean
Asafoetida	¼ tsp
Salt	to taste

Method :

• Wash and soak the green gram for about two hours.
• Pick and wash only the large size leaves (cut off the stem) and dry them on a towel.
• Grind the soaked green gram along with raw rice, grated coconut, dry red chilies,
• tamarind pellet, asafoetida and salt using least amount of water to a smooth paste.
• On the chopping board, place a spinach leaf with its backside up and the stalk end
• towards you. Smear the ground paste evenly all over the surface. Then place
• another leaf over it and repeat the smearing process till 7-8 leaves. Then fold the
• sides inwards and smear the paste on the fold. Then roll gently but firmly from the
• stalk end to the tip in the form of a cylinder.
• When the rolls are done, place them on a greased plate and steam them for about 25-30 mins or till done.
• When cooled, cut it into thick slices and serve immediately.

Note :

From 40 leaves, I made 5 rolls (each containing 8 leaves)

These can be eaten as it is or to make it tastier, it can be rolled in semolina and shallow fried in a pan on both sides till golden brown.