Palak Keerai Kootu | Dhal Spinach

Preparation time :5 minutes     

Cooking time : 15 minutes

Serves 4 

Difficulty :  Easy

Palak keerai or pasalai keerai or  spinach is rich in all essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals.  I remember this cartoon show my son used to watch - the “Popeye Show” in which Popeye got instant energy on eating this spinach, it may be true!!!  I used to tell the story of Popeye to my son (it was very famous cartoon that time) while watching the cartoon and I never faced problem of my son eating spinach.

Normally greens take a lot of time to clean, so we used to quit many greens fearing about the cleaning task. But while using spinach, there is absolutely no work !! We could make this greens ready while dhal gets cooked. Also it gives a nice green colour which I love the most. Many of my friends & colleagues used to say on eating this kootu “Romba nalla irukku”. So I want to post this recipe first in the Greens category.

Ingredients:

• Palak keerai     - 1 bunch
• Moong dhal     - 75 ml
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Shallots            (chopped) - 5 Nos.
• Green chillies(slitted) – 2 Nos.
• Tomato            (chopped) – 1 No.
• Scraped coconut – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Mustard – 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds (Jeera) -1 tsp
• Oil – 1 tsp

Method:

Clean, wash and finely chop palak. Cook the moong dhal with turmeric powder  and water until very soft.  Pour oil in a kadai and season with the items given for seasoning. Then add onion, green chillies  and tomato, sauté for a minute. Now add palak and give a stir, then add cooked moong dhal, mix well. Cook the greens with a lid covered for 5 minutes. Now add coconut and required salt, mix everything and cook for a minute. Your lovely green coloured palak kootu is ready!!

This can serve dual purpose i.e. either it can be mixed with rice along with a drop of ghee or can be taken as side dish for kara kuzhambu, Meen kuzhambu or for rasam.

Note:

Carefully add water while cooking palak with dhal to get kootu consistency .