A humble curry using Malabar Spinach from Palakkad Cuisine. This traditional curry has a burst of mixed taste viz., salt, spciy, sweet and sour.
Almost all the households in the olden days had their own kitchen garden. When guests arrive unexpectedly (that's how relations were maintained those days. They were warmly welcomed and served at any time of the day whether day or night. Hence the name "Athithi" - a person who drops in without informing (thithi - day).
They tried to be selfsufficient as the needs were bare minimum.
Let's get into this curry making.
English - Malabar Spinach (Basella alba)
Tamil - Pasalai Keerai
Kannada / Tulu - Basale
Telugu - Bachali
A video recipe is available here :
Ingredients :
- Malabar Spinach - 1 Bunch
- Tamarind - 1 lemon size
- TUrmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Jaggery - 1 TBSP or as preferred
- Green chilli - 1 no. (or as preferred)
For tempering :-
- COconut Oil- 2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Fenu greek seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Dried red chilli - 2 nos.
Process :-
- Clean and wash the spinach. If the stems are big, then you can either use them in this recipe or you can make a different recipe using it.
- In a vessel, add the clean spinach, tamarind and a green chilli slit vertically.
- Switch on the gass and cook till done.
- Transfer it to a plate and allow to cool completely.
- Blend to a coarse paste
- transfer this paste to the vessel
- add turmeric powder, jaggery and salt
- Bring to boil. Let it Boil for few minutes. when foam forms on top, remove from flame.
- Prepare the tempering by heating coconut oil, add mustard seeds. when they start spluttering, add the dried red chilli (broken) and fenugreek seeds. As the seeds turn golden in colour, remove from flame and add it to the prepared curry.
- Enjoy this traditional curry along with plain white rice or as an accompaniment to a dish that is prepared without sourness viz., molakootal.