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May 18, 2009

Keerai kadayal With Garlic & Palak Chapathi

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KEERAI KADAYAL

This simple keerai kadayal is a perfect dish for kids & adults to make them eat greens. I make this arai keerai kadayal atleast 3-4 times in a week. It can be prepared with siru keerai and mulai keerai too. Basically I am a health conscious person. I always think to avoid fatty, oily items and to include something that is rich in protein and iron in our regular diet.

We all know greens are very rich in iron. So I am sure in including this in our lunch. My kid who is a fussy eater likes this very much. This is the first keerai dish we introduce to babies after one year. We too like this more than other dishes with keerai like kootu, poriyal and sambar. 

I make this simple keerai kadaiyal/ masiyal which is very easy to do at the same time the amount of spinach consumption will be more. This dish is a nice way to make your kids eat greens. It tastes great when mixed with plain rice adding ghee. So here comes the ingredients,
Keerai kadaiyal

Ingredients:
  • Arai keerai  or Mulai keerai or Siru keerai  – 1 bunch
  • Garlic flakes – 5 –7 nos
  • Salt & water – as needed.
Method:
  • Remove the leaves and wash it for 2-3 times until all the soil gets removed.
  • Boil 1/2 cup of water in a vessel and add the keerai /spinach to it.
  • Cook it well and don’t cover the vessel with the lid. (Hope you all know this:)) After sometime flip it once and cook it.
  • Once its done, switch off the flame and let it cool. Don’t drain the excess water. U can use it for grinding.(Always add less water to cook spinach.)
  • First, run the garlic flakes with the salt once or twice without water.
  • Now add the cooked spinach and grind it to make a smooth paste.
Mix with plain rice by adding ghee!! Try this with your kids, I am sure they will like it. Garlic flavor is the plus for this kadaiyal. U can refrigerate it and use for 2-3 days!!
Another version in this is, just cook the spinach and grind it with salt. Soak tamarind in water and extract the juice. Add the tamarind juice to the ground spinach and allow it to boil. Do the seasoning with mustard, urad dal and hing. This we call as pulikeerai. I think most of you do this at home!!

PALAK CHAPATHI
I tried Palak chapathi and Aloo paratha last week for dinner. It was soft and tasty. I got the recipe from my neighbour. I’ll post Aloo paratha soon. Now comes the Palak chapathi,

palak chappathi1


Ingredients:

1 cup - 250ml
  • Palak / Pasalai keerai – 2 bunches ( small)
  • Red chilli powder –  1 tsp(adjust )
  • Garam masala powder – 1 tsp (adjust as per your need)
  • Ginger – 1 inch (finely chopped)
  • Salt & water- as needed.
  • Curd – 2 tsp
  • Oil – 1 tsp
For the dough:
  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Oil – 1tbsp
Method:
  • Chop and wash the palak leaves for 2-3 times and set aside.
  • Heat a kadai with 1 tsp oil and add the palak to it. Saute till its half cooked and get reduced in quantity.
  • Then grind the palak with little water to a smooth paste.
  • Now take the wheat flour in a bowl and add the ground palak, red chilli powder, ginger pieces, garam masala, curd and salt. Add water only if it is needed because the water in the ground palak  is itself sufficient. If you feel its too watery, add some wheat flour and make a dough. Add some oil and knead it well.
  • Then cover and keep it for 30 mins.The dough is of green in color.
  • Now make even sized balls and roll it to a thin chappathi.
  • Heat a dosa tawa and make chapathis as usual.
Yummy, healthy palak chappathi is ready. U can serve with onion raita and pickle!!
palak chappathi with pickle & raita!!



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33 comments :

Unknown said...

wow..thanks for your entry for swc greens. nice recipe with the garlic. I usually make puli keerai which you have mentioned. Palak chapati looks great too. And thanks for a wonderful info on spinach. Thats a beautiful post.

prathibha said...

Nice recipes..good way to use greens...love the halwa pic

Finla said...

Beautiful colour .

Lena Jayadev said...

Woww...Color is nice....normally make it by just chopping Palak...this is lovely.. :)

jayasree said...

Lovely green entries for the event.
Badam halwa looks mouthwatering. Would love to dig in.

Chitra said...

Thanku all for ur quick comments:)

Anonymous said...

Great flavors for these greens! Sounds delicious!

Gita Jaishankar said...

Everything looks delicious Chitra...nice color from the curry and rotis :)

Suparna said...

Hi Chitra,
Me too on a oil free fat free mode from quite sometime now :) hmmm...greens I love it even in it's simplest of dishes, u dish looks so healthy and homely.
As am on a paratha speciality mission ;) I would love to try out your palak paratha dear.
Wow! the halwa looks really rich, and the way u've packed it looks like how they pack at sweet shops...aaaaa how I wish I was that lucky friend of urs to get that packet of halwa :)

Parita said...

Yummy palak chapati..perfect color and healthy

Deepthi Shankar said...

I love palak .. nice chapathi

Ashwini said...

Love palak chapati. Badam halwa looks very tempting.

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Healthy recipes. Perfect for the event. Looks deliciious.

Mangala Bhat said...

wow! helthy treat Thanks for sharing :)

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Oh Chitra wow look at the color so yummy!!! and since a large pack of palak was lying in the refrigerator I wanted to make rotis tonite oh you beat me!!!

Myvegfare said...

hi chitra, both the greens look very green, my favourite colour, both the dishes are lovely too..., very healthy recipes....., never tried the first one, will try sometime....

Uma said...

Wow, all the dishes look so delicious Chitra! New look of your blog is nice.

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

Palak chapati looks so good. Good way to get greens in...

Pooja said...

Healthy n nutritious! And the palak kadaiyal is so easy to make..wow I never thought of it. The chapatis look appetizing too!

Anonymous said...

absolute health package.Awesome

Chitra said...

Thanku friends:)@ ramya, hahaha:)

Ammu said...

Wonderful collection of dishes.

Gita Jaishankar said...

Thanks for the comment Chitra...You can try the same method for potato fingers too :)

AnuSriram said...

Go Green! Looks healthy!

Raks said...

All greens:)

Nice post and wonderful recipes:))

gtyuk said...

delicious greeny delights;

arai keerai, mola keerai, hmmmm, never get this here; miss them so much; I do puli keerai too, but only with spinach (what we get here)

Cham said...

I made the same post today but something available in US stores which taste like ara keerai. I miss those... Good one!

Pooja said...

Nice entries chithra..Looking wonderful..

Nithya Praveen said...

This is so good n healthy.We dont get Arai keerai here,i used swiss chad instead.Lovely one:)

Trupti said...

everything looks delicious Chitra

Vibaas said...

yummy, healthy recipes. halwa looks awesome. very tempting :)

Purva Desai said...

even I make spinach roti by adding methi leaves along with spinach....halwa looks appetizing as well

Anonymous said...

very healthy and nutritious chapati :)