Vaali or Spinach ambat & An Ode to MEME

The picture above was taken by me, since the leaves were not so picture perfect I thought of posting a much clearer picture that I found on the web which is below.




Picture courtesy: www.hormel.com

This is one of my favorites. Vaali(in Konkani)or Spinach cooked in a coconut sauce and seasoned with sautéed onions makes the perfect dish. Back in my home I remember we adding raw papaya pieces to this dish.
Since I am not able find the raw papaya around here I just prepared it with spinach alone and that too the Indian spinach or it’s also known as Malabar spinach or Ceylon spinach, they have thick stems and big leaves as compared to the regular spinach.. They have a slimy texture while chopped and has got a good earthy flavor & are packed with vitamins & minerals.I have saved all the thick stems intending of planting them in a big pot.
This dish very easy and simple, cooked toor dal is added to give a nice body and consistency to the dish and it is finished with a onion seasoning which makes the whole dish flavorsome & fragrant.




Recipe follows

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped Spinach (cleaned and washed)
2 tbsp onions roughly chopped
½ to ¾ cups of toor dal
Salt to taste

For Masala:

¾ cups of grated coconut
5 to 6 red chillies (fried) [Ambat is made spicy, so you can add more depending on how spicy you want]
Marble size tamarind or ¼ to ½ tsp tamarind concentrate.

For Seasoning:

1 cups onions finely chopped
1 tbsp cooking oil


Method:

1. Wash toor dal in 2 to 3 changes of water & cook both dal and spinach till done. Add salt and combine.

2. While the spinach & dal is cooking, in a blender add in the masala ingredients and add little water to grind it to a fine paste.

3. Now add in the masala to the cooked dal along with spinach and mix well till it’s well incorporated. Adjust everything at this point. The consistency should be like gravy, not too thick not too thin.

4. Heat oil in a small pan & add onions, sauté onions till golden brown. Finally add this sautéed onion to the curry and mix well and cover immediately.

Serve with rice.





Fellow blogger Lakshmi Of Taste of Mysore tagged for a MeMe, Thanks Lakshmi.

And with much ado I now give you 7 random facts about me and me alone!

Go on readers...

1. I am an archetypal Aquarian and possess all the personalities of an Aquarian.

2. I love cooking & entertaining; that's one of the reasons this blog exists.

3. I love gardening, and ended up having over 20 plant pots (most are foliage) in my apartment! I just enjoy watching them grow. I believe indoor garden lifts the spirit and makes the home come alive.

4. I love paper bags and I must admit that I collect all of them, they are cute aren’t they!?

5. I must say I love toiletries & fragrances and have a whole bunch of them and end up not using half of it!

6. I love watching British comedies As time goes by & Keeping up appearances. They are real entertainers to me.

7. And being a foodie I love watching Food Network shows!

That’s about it…with this I conclude and tag Arundati & Nirmala.Also food bloggers out there who would like to get into the MeMe loop can please take over.