Pasalaikeerai Porial

Green leafy vegetables are one of the few rich nutrition sources accessible even to the poor. We see other vegetables’ prices fluctuate between tens and even hundreds due to seasons, supply, political factors and so on; while the green leafy vegetables’ prices stay almost intact, we only might avoid them during rainy days for hygiene reason. Though low in cost, they are rich in iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin A, phosphorous and magnesium; there are ample of local varieties available in different places and multiple recipes through which we can relish them . This one is a simple and typical keerai porial recipe we’ve eaten as  kids with pappu-chochi (kid’s way of calling dal rice).

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Spinach (I used pasalai keerai) – 2 cups chopped

2.    Oil – ½ tsp

3.    Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

4.    Onion – 1

5.     Garlic – 5 cloves

6.    Salt to taste

7.     Dry red chili – 1 large

8.    Pepper crushed – a pinch (Optional)

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add broken chili and sauté chopped onion and garlic in it with a pinch of salt until the onion is soft and starts to brown.

Step 2: Add the chopped spinach and stir well; add adequate salt and cook covered for few minutes.

Step 3: Open the lid, stir and cook until the greens are dry outside but still soft and moist inside. Sprinkle pepper at this stage if you want. Pepper can be substituted for chili heat or added just for flavour.

Step 4: Serve with sambar, rasam rice or dal-ghee rice as well.

TIPS:

*Green leafy vegetables require less salt by nature, they are rich in sodium and also they become less in quantity after cooking; so be careful while adding salt. I was given this lesson by amma during my earlier kitchen days yet I learnt only from experience.

Kothu Parotta

Actually I had made it with naan so I should rather call it kothu naan. I have tried to make this not so healthy - damn spicy dish, a less wicked one by adding some veggies [Just a sort of excuse ;)]. The making of kothu parota in the roadside shops while travelling is an attention-grabbing process; the flavour, sound and looks are all quite appealing but the hygiene factor holds us aback. Making it at home with less spice, less oil and some vegetables is a guilt-free way to relish it occasionally. Store bought ready parotas or left over parathas or even rotis can be used apart my my naan version.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Naan - 4

2.    Cabbage chopped – 1 cup

3.    Spinach – 1 cup

4.    Tomato – 1 large

5.     Onion – 2

6.    Garlic – 6 cloves

7.     Ginger – 2” piece

8.    Green chilies – 2

9.    Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp

10. Salt to taste

11.  Oil – 1 tbsp

12.Pepper crushed – ½ tsp (optinal)

Method:

Step 1: Pile the naan or roti that you are going to use; cut them into small bite sized squares and crush them slightly between fists to soften a bit. In the roadside shops they typically mince the parotas using dosa spatulas in both hands which makes that tak-tak sound. 

Step 2: Heat oil in a large kadai and fry ginger, garlic, green chilies in it and add onion after a minute and fry until it starts to brown.

Step 3: Add cabbage, tomato and spinach and toss well with required salt. Add the chopped naan and mix well.

 Step 4: Now add tomato sauce and crushed pepper if using and sauté in high temperature by rapid stirring. Adjust salt and spices at this stage. Avoid frying too much to prevent the naan/ parota from getting tough.

 

Step 5: Take out and serve immediately the crisp and juicy kothu parota along with onion raita.

Tomato, Spinach & Broken Wheat Stew or Tzavarabour

Tzavarabour, frankly I don’t even know if I am pronouncing it right but I’ve spelt it right. This is a traditional Armenian recipe (Republic of Armenia is a country near Turkey) which I happened to randomly hit on the web from George’s cookbook, http://www.georgefamily.net/cookbook. I was looking for a tomato-spinach soup and this recipe was quite interesting and so I picked it up. I replaced samba wheat rava for bulgar wheat which is used in the authentic recipe. It was a wholesome and light supper that I opted for yesterday; we both liked it.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Tomato – 2 large

2.    Spinach – 7-10 leaves

3.    Bulgar wheat (samba wheat – broken or rava) – ¼ cup

4.    Garlic cloves – 3

5.     Butter – 1 tbsp

6.    Salt to taste

7.     Pepper crushed – ½ tsp

8.    Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp chopped

Method:

Step 1: Put the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute and peel them when cool enough (I skipped this and found the small bits of tomato peels disturbing a bit while consuming); chop the peeled tomatoes and spinach into fine chunks. Peel and mince garlic cloves.

Step 2: Melt butter in a deep vessel and sauté tomatoes in it, add wheat to it, and then add stock if you’ve or add 3 cups of plain water & salt. Let it boil in simmered heat until the wheat is well cooked and soft.

Step 3: Add chopped spinach and cook further for 3 minutes by stirring occasionally. Add pepper now and turn off heat.

Step 4: Garnish with fresh coriander leaves; stir & serve immediately.