Keerai as Side Dish- RCI & JFI-WBB -Leafy vegetables

Keerai is Spinach called in Tamil ( I have googled it out.. :D, I hope I am not wrong :)) . )
When Lakshmi announced Tamil cuisine theme for this month of RCI, it was a real confusion for me, as normally I get messed up a lot with all the south Indian region recipes , so I took up it as a small challenge and thought to make something for this event. Also how can I forget JFI ? so suitable to both, I am presenting here a Tamil cuisine , made up with Leafy vegetable. :)
Ingredients :
Fresh Spinach -1 bunch,
2-3 greenchillies,
Shredded coconut-1 tsp, (i used dried one)
cumin seeds -1/2 tsp,
3 dry red chillies,
1 tsp urad dhal( I used my all favorite Moong dal instead of this) ,
1/2 tsp ghee,
1 tsp rice flour,
1 tsp curd
1/2 tsp sugar,
salt to taste.
Method:
Cut spinach into small pieces. Cook it in an open vessel with salt and a tablespoon of water. After the spinach gets cooked completely, add the cumin seeds(raw). Grind together green chillies and coconut. Add this to the mixture. Saute urad dhal and red pepper in ghee and garnish the spinach with it. Dissolve a spoon of rice flour in a spoon of water and mix well. This will give it the required thickness. Add a spoon of curds and sugar to the gravy.
I had this with chapati. Though I am very much sure that this is being eaten different way in real tamil style, I am sure many of my tamil buddies around here will have real idea of it.share it with me , so that I can know more about it. Also can anyone around there tell me the name ofthis dish, the source from where I got this recipe said this as a side dish, so I left with no option but to post it with that name only :P .

This recipe I googled out( but forgot the real source URL... :( ) , so that I can participate in RCI , started by Lakshmi.: ) . Thank you Lakshmi it’s a great experience making this. And I love it , as it contains no oil in it. Just loving the Zero oil recipes. That’s why this become my special choice for this event. Not only this, this Keerai goes straight to Indira of Mahanandi for JFI-WBB -Greens . Thank you Indira for choosing the Green leafy vegetable theme , this kinda veggies been my favorite all the time :D .
and hey, Don't miss to check out the real beauty of India on my regular blog - CreativePooja , also if you are intrested in cooking and liked dishes around here then go visit here, this blog is just like a trailer... movies is on other side :D

Stay tuned and Have fun :) .

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Lauki-Chana Dal(Bottle gourd- bengal gram) Curry

This authentic Gujarati vegetable main course is a regular dish prepared at my home. As I am at mom’s place right now , I rarely think to enter kitchen even . Though when “L” of Nupur ‘s A-Z of vegetables event came to my mind, I couldn’t resist myself making this beloved Gujarati dish or mine. We call it Dudhi chana nu Shaak in Gujarati.
This is a good option for those who don’t love bottle gourd directly. At my place too hubby likes it though he don’t like Luaki much. According to him this makes a good combination and the taste of final dish is totally different than lauki curry : ) .oh…., I miss Deepak’s compliments the most when I make something here these days.

Ingredients :
1 bottle gourd(lauki) , medium sized,
1 ½ cup of Bengal gram (chana Dal)
1 tsp garlic chopped width wise,
½ tsp mustard seeds,
1 tsp cumin seeds,
½ tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp red chili powder,
1 tsp cumin-coriander seeds powder,
2-3 tsp oil,
Salt to taste,
Coriander leaves to garnish .

Method:
Soak chana dal(Bengal gram) into water 1 hour prior to cooking.
Peel, wash and chop lauki (bottle gourd) into medium sized cubes.
In a separate vessel boil the chana dal until it is soft.
Remove the excess water from it and keep aside.
Peel the garlic cloves and cut it width wise. (you can use the garlic paste too ) .
In a frying pan heat the oil, when bit hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to it, as it start to pop up add turmeric powder and immediately add the Lauki cubes to it.
Mix it well and let it cook , stirring occasionally ,until lauki is cooked fully.
If bottle gourd (lauki) you are using is not much soft then it takes little water added to this to cook it well, in such case cook it until bottle gourd cubes are soft and all water part is evaporated from it.
Next add boiled chana dal(Bengal gram) , red chilli powder and salt to it. Mix it well and finally add cumin –coriander powder to it. mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati.


This is my entry for A-Z of vegetables of Nupur.
Thanks Nupur :D , for giving me a chance to present this dish. Read more...