Vali Ambat - Spinach and toor dal in a coconut gravy

My mom prepares spinach with coconut and green chilli gravy with toor dal. In Kerala, it is also prepared as a dry subzi with coconut. I have tried other variations as well.

Hariyali Dal
Spinach with peanuts
Spinach Moong Dal Fry - my favourite

Spinach Kofta

Palak Paneer
Rajma Palak
Aloo Palak

Today I present to you yet another Spinach Dish from the Konkan region.



Recipe from here

Ingredients (Serves 6)

Spinach 500 gm

Onions 1
Tomato 2
Toor Dal 1 cup
Water 4 cups

For paste
Coconut 1.5 cups
Red Chilli 4
Tamarind paste 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Tempering
Onions 1
Curry leaves few

Method of Preparation



1. Add toor dal directly to a pressure cooker. Add water.

2. Chop the spinach, onions and tomato. Add to the dal. (I switched the gas on after adding onions, tomato and dal. Added spinach in and kept stirring as I was chopping. This way it got wilted a little and I was able to put all the spinach in).

3. Close cooker and pressure cook for a few whistles till everything is cooked (the number basically depends on how quickly your toor dal cooks. Mine needs atleast 5-6 whistles usually. So I did the same number now).

4. In a pan, heat a little oil. Add the red chillies and fry for a minute. Transfer to the mixie.

5. Add coconut, tamarind and turmeric. Grind into a smooth paste adding enough water (little at a time).

6. Add the coconut paste and salt to the cooker. Simmer for some time.

7. In the mean while, in the same pan and oil used to chillies, add the other onions finely chopped along with the curry leaves. Saute till it is nicely browned.

8. Add to the dish at the end.

You can serve this as a soup or with roti or rice.