Palak/ Spinach Ambat: Delicious Vegetarian Recipe

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Nowadays 'Go Green' is the popular mantra. So, why not add the green to your food as well. Adding the green veggies to your diet does not necessarily mean that your food has to be boring. In fact this recipe will take you by a surprise.

Palak or spinach ambat is a simple, tasty and an authentic vegetarian recipe which will definitely make your tastebuds crave for more. This recipe is basically from the Konkan coast area. In this recipe the spinach is cooked in a creamy, coconut gravy with a hint of sourness due to the tamarind. You can easily prepare this delectable spinach curry in very less time.

Here goes the recipe for the delicious palak/ spinach ambat.

Serves: 3-4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• Spinach- 1 medium bunch (washed and roughly chopped approx 2-2½ packed cups)
• Onion- 1 medium (roughly chopped)
• Toor dal- 2/3 cup
• Jaggery (optional)- 1tsp
• Salt- as per taste

For Coconut Paste

• Fresh/ frozen coconut- ½ packed cups grated
• Tamarind paste- 1-1½ tsp (or 1 small marble sized tamarind pulp)
• Dry red chilli- 4-6 (preferably Byadagi or Kashmiri chillies. Adjust as per taste)
• Oil- ½ tbsp (preferably coconut oil)

Method

1. Wash toor dal 3-4 times to remove any impurities and transfer it to a pressure cooker. To this add chopped spinach, onions and jaggery. Add about 3 cups of water and cover the lid. Cook it on medium flame for 20-25 minutes or until the toor dal is cooked thoroughly.
2. While the dal and vegetables are cooking, prepare the coconut paste. Heat oil in a tadka pan and add broken dry red chillies.
3. Fry them for a minute on a medium heat. Make sure that you don't burn the chillies as the burnt chillies will make the gravy taste bitter.
4. Transfer the fresh/ frozen grated coconut, tamarind paste/ pulp and roasted chillies into a mixer or food processor and grind them to smooth paste by adding very little water. Keep it aside until needed.
5. Open the lid of the pressure cooker once the pressure is released completely. Transfer the contents to the large pan and mash the dal by pressing them gently with a back of a ladle.
6. Switch on the gas and reduce the flame to medium. Transfer the ground coconut paste to the dal and vegetables and add salt to taste. Cook on a medium flame for 5-7 minutes until the curry comes to gentle boil.
7. Switch off the flame and let it rest for atleast 15 minutes for all the flavours to blend well.

Serve this delicious Palak/ Spinach Ambat hot with plain rice, ghee and papad or you can also serve it as a side dish to dosa or chapatti. Enjoy!