Paalak dal /spinach dal/ parippum cheerayum

Dal/Parippu is an absolute comfort food for all of us here. Even when we go on holiday the first thing I want to eat when we get back is some steaming hot rice with some dal. It’s pure bliss.

Many years ago when we set out to Switzerland for  our first holiday together I was so excited to see the places and to try new food. I enjoyed the food the first two days, trying out new food was really great but after that it became a bit less enjoyable and  I was desperate to eat some rice.So out we went for an indian  restaurant hunt but couldn’t find any restaurant nearby but instead found a Chinese. I didn’t even want to look at the menu , all I wanted was some rice. I can never forget the pleasure I got from eating that bowl of rice. Rest of the days we were automatically drawn towards that restaurant . After our holiday we came back hungry and tired, still I didn’t want to order a take away or eat out. I dragged myself to the kitchen and cooked some dal and rice. The taste of that dal and rice is still in my mouth, it was a pure comfort meal and we ate as if we haven’t seen food in many days J

Ingredients

Green gram lentil/ Mung dal – ¾ cup

Onion – 3 medium

Tomato – 2

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Green chillies – 4

Cumin seeds – 1 heaped tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ stp

Spinach – 100 gm

Coriander leaves – few (finely chopped)

Oil

Salt

For tempering/ tadka ( optional)

Oil/ghee

Mustard seeds

Whole red chilli - 2

Garlic minced – 1 1/2tsp

Curry leaves

Method

• Pressure cook the dal adding enough water.
• In a pan add oil and sputter cumin seeds.
• Add chopped onions and saute until light brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes, green chillies and cook for few minutes until tomatoes are mushy.
• Add turmeric and saute until raw smell goes.
• Finally add cooked dal, chopped spinach , add enough water and cook for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove from fire and add chopped coriander leaves.

Tempering/tadka

• Take oil in a small pan and sputter mustard seeds.
•  Add minced garlic and fry till  it’s brown.
• Finally add split whole red chillies and fry until dark. Add in curry leaves and to tadka and remove from fire.
• Add the tadka to the curry

Spinach Cannelloni

During our holidays in Barcelona while me and S were enjoying the Spanish Paella to the core my boy didnt want to even give it a try as it looked so red and to him red means spicy ! But luckily all the Spanish restaurants had some Italian menu as well but all in Spanich though.I went through the menu and saw some thing written Cannelloni espinacho,I guessed it could be sometthing with spinach and cannelloni pasta and we ordered that for him.It took a while for the our order to come thorough but the wait was all worth,Lil A loved it and ate almost 3/4 th of it .I was happy that he didnt finish all of it so that I could taste it as well :) It was a melt in mouth kind of dish...I lovvvved it,we ordered the same dish for him everyday atleast once a day during those 5 days and he never complained ! When I came back I searched for the recipes online and saw a quite a lot and even the cannaloni pasta I got had a recipe on the packet, after going through all of it I came up with one which is not completely adpated from anywhere.I recreated almost the same taste at home and we all love it.I make this often now especially on days when he not in a mood to eat as he never say no to this.

Ingredients (serves 2 -3 )

Cannelloni tubes - 8
Spinach - 1 packet( 250 gm)
Riccotta cheese - 1 tub(250gm) ( Dont worry its not a rich cheese )
Parmasan cheese - 1/2 cup (grated)
Soft cheese - 2-3 tbs( I used low fat Philadelphia)
Onion -1 large
Tomato - 2 large
Oregano -1 tbs
Basil powder - 1 tsp
Garlic - 1 tbs (minced)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Method
1.Boil the tomatoes ,remove the skin ,make puree and keep it aside.
2. In a pan add olive oil and saute onions till soft and brown.
3.Add minced garlic and fry for 1-2 minutes.

4.Add tomato puree,salt,pepper,oragano,basil powder and cook for 2-3 minutes.

5.Finally add soft cheese and when it starts to boil turn off the heat.
6.Pour half of this sauce on the bottom of a baking dish .
6.In another pan wilt the roughly chopped spinach for 1-2 minutes.
7.When it is cool squeeze the water out of it and mix it with riccotta cheese.

8.Fill the precooked cannaloni tubes with Spinach riccotta mixture and place the tubes on top of sauce in baking dish.

9.Pour the rest of sauce and finally sprinkle the grated paramsan cheese on top of it.
10.Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree centigarde for 20 minutes.

Cheera puttu/Spinach Puttu

My lil boy who is very fussy about eating fruits/veg and even drinking water had a severe constipation problem few months before and since then we have been very conscious about his diet making sure that he eats atleast one fruit a day and atleast some veggies and drinks atleast a minimum of 3 1/2 cup of fluids a day which is still very less :(

Spinach was a life saver for us when he had that problem, so even during our holidays we always used to go to a restaurant and order something with spinach ! Since then spinach has been a regular in our home,I make it almost everyday or alternate day,and always try to find new ways to include spinach in his diet,like spinach on toast, spinach roti ,spinach pasta,spinach dal,spinach dosa, spinach idly,spinach kozhukatta etc etc list goes on.Spinach puttu is one among the list.I think I havent posted any of the recipes I mentioned above before expect that easy toast !

so here goes the easy recipe of spinach puttu.

Ingredients

Puttu podi/Rice flour - 1 1/2 cup

Spinach - 1 bunch

Dessicated coconut/freshly grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Salt

water - if required

Method

1. In a pan wilt the spinach for 1 minute and blend it to a puree.

2.Measure the puttupodi in a bowl and add salt and spinach puree and mix.Break any lumps formed and make the flour moist ,so that it will hold the shape when it is steamed.

3.In a puttu maker add a little of grated coconut to form a thin layer and then add the moist flour till 1/4 th and add another thin layer of coconut and continue till you reach the top.

4.Steam it for 4-5 minutes.

Serve with Cherupayar or kadala curry !