Palak/Spinach Usili

-
I was suddenly tempted to try this paruppu usili dish out using spinach as I was bored of cooking the same old spinach preparations in South Indian style.  I cannot recall having eaten the spinach in this manner, but when we have spinach in dals, adais and vadas,  I thought why not in Usili.  And here I was giving a pat on my back for this little innovation after the dish was made as I could not get enough of it.



3/4 cup toor dal and chana dal together combined  equally or in 2:1 ratio
5 ounces of spinach leaves(trimmed)
3-4 chillies long variety
salt to taste
pinch of turmeric powder
oil
pinch of hing powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal


Soak the dals along with the red chilies for at least two hours.  Drain the water completely and grind into a coarse paste with salt, turmeric, red chilies and hing.  I also added about a table spoon of oil while grinding.  Grease a container in which you are going to cook the paste.  Spread the paste evenly and steam cook it for 15 minutes. Let it cook and break the cooked paste so that there are no lumps.  In the meanwhile, cook the spinach with a pinch of salt till it wilts.  Do not add any water.

Take about 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and splutter the mustard and urad dal.  Add the dal mixture and cook on medium flame till you begin to get the smell and it begins to brown.  Add the spinach and cook further till it mixes well with the dal and all the moisture is removed.

This is best when eaten with mor kuzhambu rice!!!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Corn and Spinach Dhokla for MAITRI

-
Image
This recipe goes towards MAITRI, a friendship chain created for food bloggers across N America.where a bogger sends a mystery ingredient to another blogger who then whips up something with it and blogs about it.  For more details on MAITRI, visit the blog site of Priya or Reshmi   who are behind this. As a part of this chain, I was matched with Shylaja who had sent me a packet of cornflour and a cute little bunch of decor grapes.  Eventhough I could tell right away, I made sure it was cornflour by tasting it and getting a confirmation from Shylaja.  The bunch of grapes are sitting along with my other artificial fruits on the center of the dining table. Well coming back to the food part,  I was not quite sure what to do with this flour as I am not a big fan of corn.  After about three days since I received the packet, I came upon with this idea of using them in a Dhokla.   As I decided to combine cornflour with some besan,  I was left with some extra flour.  I am planning to
Read more

Pecan Ladoo

-
Image
1 cup pecans                                                        1/2 cup oats 3/4 cup sugar few cardamom pods a spoon of ghee 1/4 cup milk Process the pecans making sure that it does not get lumpy. Roast the oats in a spoon of ghee until it turns golden brown in color. Powder this with the sugar and cardamom. In the meanwhile, begin to toast the processed pecans on the stove top. Slowly you will begin to see that the nuts are letting out oil and kind of coming together. Roast this until you get the smell of the pecans making sure it does not get burnt. Transfer this and the oats mixture to a bowl. Have a quarter cup of milk heated up and ready. It is not required to boil the milk. Use the needed amount of  milk  to bind all the processed powder and nuts together. I always thought that these ladoos needed ghee to hold them until I saw this wonderful recipe of Priya's Microwave Oats and Poha Ladoo. That is when I learnt that you can use warm milk instead. Roll
Read more

Beetroot Pulao

-
Image
Pulao is a very favorite dish among young and old as it works as a quite fulfilling one pot meal.  Yesterday I made this Beetroot Pulao for dinner and dal makhani(without the makhan).  The pulao is quite a simple dish using chopped beetroots instead of the regular carrots and the rest being the same. Ingredients for the pulao are as follows 1 cup basmati rice soaked for about 20 minutes a handful of chopped beetroot and potatoes a handful of frozen beans and peas 1/2 a small onion chopped 2 cloves of garlic, 1 long green chili and 1 inch piece ginger all finely chopped 4 cloves, small piece of cinnamon and a pinch of elaichi powder cumin seeds for seasoning Take 3 tsp of oil and splutter the cumin seeds when it is hot.  Add all the whole masalas and immediately add the onions.  Saute them for a couple of minutes and add the chopped ginger, garlic and green chili.  Follow it with the drained rice and fry till you get the aroma.  Add all the vegetables and stir for about
Read more