Going Green... Spinach Recipes

Greens are an important part of our diet, but not many of us enjoy the greens... cleaning them, cooking them... seems a lot of work. Here are simple dishes that you can make with greens. I am using spinach, but you can replace them with the green veggies of your choice.

Note: I have used about 1 bowl of spinach puree for all the recipes.

Spinach Curry

Blanch the spinach leaves. Puree them in a blender.

In a teaspoon of oil crackle some mustard seeds, urad daal and 1 dried red chilli.

Add the spinach puree with some salt, turmeric powder and coriander powder.

Bring to a boil.

Serve hot with chappati or rice.

Hara Bara Kababs

You need: 4 slices of bread, 1 cup spinach puree, 2 cups green peas boiled, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp each of coriander powder and red chilli powder, salt to taste, oil for shallow frying

In a food processor make bread crumbs. Add the spinach puree, boiled green peas, all the spices and salt. Blend together to make a coarse mixture. Make patties of the mixture and shallow fry in oil till brown on both sides.

Alternately you can also grill the patties in the oven.

Serve hot as a snack with tomato sauce or tamarind chutney.

Green puris

In about 2 cups wheat flour, mix one cup spinach puree, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp each of coriander powder and red chilli powder, salt to taste and 1 tbsp oil. Add little water if needed to make into a stiff dough. Divide into 15-20 portions. Roll each portion into a puri and fry in hot oil. Serve hot with sweet mango chutney.

Note: The same dough if kneaded softer can be rolled into chappatis or parathas. Serve hot with onion/cucumber raita or plain curds.

Instead of making chappatis, you can make sausage shapes rolls from the dough and steam till done. Once slightly cooled down, cut into roundels and fry on pan with very little oil. Serve with sauce.