Spinach & Homestyle cooking

Spinach. The green that is packed with iron—good for strength.

Spinach with the rice in my lunch box

On a  visit to Chennai a few years ago, we had lunch at the Adayar Park. I was surprised at the kind of items on their menu. Stuff that took me back to my childhood.  Keerai mashiyal, chinna vengaya (shallots) vathakozhumbu and the like ! These are very ordinary home cooking items that even an Udipi hotel will not make or serve!

With no idea that the future would have me hooked to blogging about food, I did not ask for too many details, though we were told that because people want home style food, they  had introduced some items in the menu.

Now things have changed. People who can afford to eat at these places are travelling so, so much, that their tummies cannot take the generally more heavy hotel food. Or for that matter, food that does not clearly and distinctly make them feel they are eating home food. All about simple food, with traditional garnish that looks aesthetic, but not really an artist’s stroke that one will be reluctant to undo.

In fact, eating home made food is not only the healthy option, but also the fashion these days. Many hotels have had their chefs dig up such recipes, and  very interestingly, many big chains have roped in services of home chefs---read moms, aunts, sisters and even grandmas-- to make a set of home food, on a regular basis.

For foodies who have missed reading on this, I commend a visit to this link.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-07/india/31033083_1_5-star-hotels-home-cooked-food-chefs

The keerai mashiyal –mashed spinach--and the shallots vathakozhumbu  at Adayar Park  were almost as good as what my Mom makes.

Here goes the recipe for Keerai Mashiyal, the simplest way of cooking greens, palak in North India. I have picked it up from a Tamil cook book—not the famous “Cook and See” by Meenakshi Ammal, but an older one.

Even before my mother passed it on to me over 30 years ago, the cover and first few pages with the author’s name had gone missing! The author, I am presuming, was a woman. She has not given any quantities, but clear steps.

Ingredients: 

Spinach,washed and chopped- one bunch

Cumin seeds(jeera) -1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds-1 teaspoon

Dhuli Urad-1 teaspoon

Asofeatida(Hing)-a pinch

Salt-to taste

Oil-2 teaspoons

Dry red chillies-1 or 2.

Cooking Time-10 minutes, not counting the time you take to chop the spinach.

1.Wash and chop the palak fine.

2.Wash a katchatti – a stoneware-- , add a little water, and place it on the gas.(I am sure any hard bottom pan, including a pressure pan, will do just as well)

3.Add the chopped palak, some salt.

This heavy--not just bottom, but all through--"katchatti" is not stoneware,but aluminium

Jeera,mustard seeds and red chillies

4.Once the palak is slightly cooked, add a teaspoon of  coconut oil, a few minutes later, add  a spoon of jeer.

Cook  it for about four to five minutes, and add  three tablespoons of water in which half a teaspoon of rice flour has been mixed. Let it simmer for another two minutes. Now add two spoons of water in which hing—asofeatida—has been soaked. Mash it  with a serving spoon, till it gets a creamy texture.

5.Now temper the palak with sarson, dhuli urad, dry red chillies and curry leaves .(Heat a teaspoon of oil in a small wok, add two or three dry red chillies and half a teaspoon of mustard seeds; when they splutter add half a teaspoon of urad and a few curry leaves. When the urad  turns golden  switch off, and empty this garnish onto the cooked palak.

This is keerai mashiyal  or mashed spinach for you.Good to go with rice or roti.

You can spruce it up by adding  a ground mixture of some fresh coconut, jeera and green chillies, before adding the tempering.

To take it a step higher, you can also add a small bowl of cooked arhar or moong dhuli dal.

But if you want to enjoy the taste and derive the benefits of  the greens, don’t add any of these !

 Do it the way my Mom does. She does not add any coconut oil while the spinach is cooking, but uses while tempering it , the last step before it is ready to be served.

Reading this or any other recipe and steps to make keerai mashiyal takes more time than it does to make it. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself! I did