Kothu keerai

Kothu keerai / poriyal - Finely chopped greens stir fried with shredded coconut.
Click to see the photos of various amaranth....I like this site very much:)

Amaranth is a leafy green used just like spinach in Indian cooking.In this recipe I have used red spinach which resembles more like an Indian amaranth (thandu keerai / thandankeerai)

Why the name 'Kothu keerai' instead of poriyal or thovaran?
It is the name mom used to say. There is one more common recipe called 'keerai kadanchathu or keerai masiyal' (mashed version) with these greens.I love the way she minced those thandankeerai (amaranth) or the arakeerai. she used to chop them finely by placing the leaves over a broad stone called ammi (stone mortar) using a sharp knife. May be she could have longed for a larger cutting board, I guess:)she would chop them so finely with great care and I believe that the cutting style itself renders more taste to the keerai. Anyways I am not that great at artistic chopping. still tried my best to create it the original way so that my brothers may recollect mom's cuisine through this.

Here is a snap to enjoy the fresh looking Red spinach.

Red spinach leaves cleaned and ready to cook.

Keerai poriyal with lot of freshly grated coconut.

Ingredients:
Thandan keerai (amaranth)/ red spinach - 1 bunch
Shallot / red onion (chopped) - 1/2 cup
garlic - 5 cloves
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
mustard - 1/2 tsp
oil / ghee - 1 tbsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
green chilly / dry red chilly - 2

Method:
Pluck the leaves and young stem alone. (We can use the matured stem in making sambar, so save them in fridge).

Wash and clean the greens in large amounts of water multiple times to remove all the dirt / sand. Chop it finely.

Heat oil / ghee in a wok. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
Chop the onion, garlic, chillies, curry leaf (optional) finely and add to the wok.
Stir till onion turns soft.

Add the finely chopped greens and stir fry for some time. Sprinkle a handful of water and cook covered for 3-5 minutes.
Open the lid. Let all the moisture dries up.

Add salt, cumin and fry a bit. After the poriyal looks very loose without any moisture, switch off.
Then put the freshly shredded coconut.

Kothu keerai is ready!

Serving suggestions:
The perfect combination can be with sambar rice or curd rice.

Gobi channa masala

Gobi is the Hindi word for cauliflower and channa stands for chick peas.

Its my habit to include some protein in all the meals. So while making a simple cauliflower kuruma, I added the kondai kadalai (chick peas) and it turned out awesome.

Here goes a healthy side dish for chapathi.



Ingredients:
Chick peas / white channa - 1 cup
cauliflower (chopped) - 1 cup/200 gm
tomato - 2
Red onion - 1 (medium size)
green chillies - 4
coriander leaves - a handful.
mint leaves - few
curd - 1/2 cup
red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
turmeric powder - a pich
MTR channa masala powder - 1 tsp (optional)
(We can use any garam masala too)
salt - to taste
olive oil - 1 tbsp
bay leaf - 1
cinnamon - 1 inch

Method:
Soak channa dal overnight and cook it to tender in a pressure cooker for 5 whistles.
After getting the first whistle ,I reduce the flame to the minimum and heat the cooker for another 10 minutes to cook this dal.

(But in this curry I used 1 cup cooked channa from can).

Grind ginger and garlic together.

Chop and cook the tomatoes. saute the onion in 1 tsp oil and let them cool.
Grind cooked tomato, curd and onion together. keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Fry some cinnamon and bay leaf.

Add the green chillies, cilantro and mint leaves. Then put the ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell goes. Then add all the powders mentioned above along with the ground masala and cook till oil starts showing up.

Next add the chopped cauliflower , salt and cook covered.

After the cauliflower gets cooked put the cooked channa and stir well.

Gobi channa is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Garnish with minced cilantro, freshly chopped onion and a few drops of lemon juice on top.
Goes well with parathas ,poori , roti and naan .
Makes 3-4 cups of gravy.