Spinach/Palak Pappu

When it comes to leafy vegetables, I always prefer spinach as it is one of the most nutrient-packed vegetables and its raw juice is an excellent source of chlorophyll.  It is also a superb source of vitamins A, B complex, C. The minerals in spinach are highly alkaline, making it helpful in regulating the body pH.  People who are vegetarians will get a lot of protein in this when compared to meat. I will cook weekly at least once any leafy vegetable. At this point of time I would like to mention something about dals .Normally with Dal especially with toor dal gas will be produced in the body a lot. So once my mother told me that if you fry a little bit the dal without any oil to a golden brown colour so that   the gas can be reduced. So I roasted the dal. . So Spinach / Palak pappu (dal) recipe goes like this:

Ingredients:

• Spinach/palak – 1 bunch
• Kandi pappu (Toor dal)- 1 cup
• Tomato-1 medium size
• Green Chillies-3
• Tamarind- 1 small gooseberry size
• Salt – as per taste
• Onion – 1 small (optional)
• Oil -2 tbsp

For Tempering/Tadka/Poopu:

• Mustard seeds/Avalu – 1 tsp
• Jeera – 1 tsp
• Methi seeds/Menthulu – 1tsp
• Hing -1 tsp
• Red Chillies – 1 or 2
• Curry Leaves /karivepaku – a handful
• Coriander leaves – to garnish on the top.

Method:

• Wash dal, tomatoes and spinach.
• Chop tomatoes, green chillies and spinach, onion finely.
• Cook   dal, Tomato, Green Chillies, Onion, and Spinach in 2 to 3 cups of water until dal becomes soft.
• Soak the tamarind in Luke warm water for 5 min and extract the juice.
• Add Salt and Tamarind juice to the cooked dal mixture and mix well.
• Take another small pan with oil add mustard seeds, methi seeds, jeera, hing, red chillies and let them pop up.
• Add the Tadka/poopu to the dal mixture and cook for another 3 min.
• Garnish with Coriander leaves and curry leaves.

Note: you can add crushed garlic in tadka to get a different taste. Fried onions separately can be added in the dal instead of cooking them along with dal.