Keerai Sambar / Spinach Sambar

At times, we all are in some difficulty in cooking a healthy recipe with good taste. One among them is the” spinach”. I believe there is no necessity to brief the nutritious facts in Spinach. There are lot of spinach variety exist. Whenever the spell the word the word spinach I remember the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man is portrayed as having a strong affinity for spinach, becoming physically stronger after consuming it. It may look funny however there is a hidden truth in it. Yes, not just for the Popeye in cartoon, but it have wide nutritious facts to make anyone physically strong.
 

Cooking the spinach as a normal poriyal(Tamil) or Thoran(Malayalam) is always boring, and so this is my new adventure “Keerai Sambar/Spinach Sambar”. This recipe really tastes good as it has a combination of daal and spinach in it with all masala powders.I used the Malabar spinach for this recipe, you could replace it with any spinach of your choice. Before getting into the recipe here comes few nutritious facts as you are in the Healthy Menu.

Few Nutritious Facts:

• Rich in vitamins such as vitamin A, C, E, K
• Highly contains the source of calcium and potassium.
• Good source of Folic acid and protein.
• Excellent source of Iron

Ingredients:

• Spinach- a Bunch.
• Green chilies- 3 sliced vertically.
• Small onion- few sliced
• Tomato- 1 Sliced
• Turmeric powder- ¼ Tspn
• Sambar Powder- 2 Tspn
• Tamarind Extract- ¼ Cup
• Toor Dal- ½ Cup.
• Ghee- ¼ Tspn
• Salt- To Taste

To Temper:

• Oil- 1 Tspn
• Mustard- ½ Tspn
• Curry Leaves- Few
• Fenugreek seeds- ¼ Tspn
• Asafetida- ½ Tspn

Method:

• In a pressure cooker, cook the toor dal for 3 whistles and set aside.
• In a pan, add all the items under “To Temper” and add the small onions, green chilies and sauté until the onions turns soft.
• Add the tomatoes to it and sauté again until it becomes soft.
• Add the turmeric and sambar powder and sauté well until the masala smell goes off from it.
• Add the spinach to it and sauté for a minute just to mix up with the masala.
• Now, transfer the content to the cooker which has the cooked toor dal and close the lid and pressure cook again for 1 whistle.
• After the whistle goes off, open it and add the tamarind extract and salt and boil for a minute.
• Mix the ghee to it and serve hot with white rice or chappathi.