This is a very popular dish from North Kanara. Vali bhajji ( bhajji or bhaji means Greens) is a kind of greens grown in almost every backyard there. The leaves(“ pallo ” in Konkani) and stems(called “ dentu ” in Konkani) of this are used for making different kinds of curries. It can be used with prawns, khubbe (a kind of shellfish) and many more.
Few days back one of our friend mentioned about Vali bhajji ambat with Garlic. So I wanted to prepare it immediately (Yes..If I feel like preparing something I have to do it, otherwise I wont get good sleep!!!). So I thought of an alternative, I used spinach in the place of Vali bhajji and the taste was still great.
Ingredients: 3 cups Vali bhajji(Basale soppu) or spinach 3/4 cup toor dal 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 5 red chillies 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1 tea spn chopped garlic A pinch turmeric Oil 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract 1 tea spn jaggery or sugar(optional) Salt
Method: Cook dal , bhajji , chopped onion with a pinch of turmeric. Heat oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind with coconut, tamarind, red chillies to a smooth paste. Mix the cooked dal with masala and salt. Add sufficient water to bring it to gravy consistency. Cook till masala is completely done. Remove from heat. Heat oil and add garlic. Fry till they turn slightly brown in color. Add it to curry & close the lid immediately to retain the flavor of garlic. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30min
PS: Many people don’t add toor dal to this dish. We add for thickness.
Aayi makes two kinds of chutneys. One is hinga chutney and the other is alle chutney (Ofcourse she makes other chutneys also, but these two look similar). I never used to bother about which should go with what dish. But recently I am becoming specific about traditional food. So I was getting confused about these two chutneys. Yesterday while talking to Aayi, she gave me a simple answer, “make ginger chutney with anything prepared with urad daal, like dosa, idli etc and make hinga chutney with any other food like bhakri, buns etc”. Isn’t that a very clear and simple answer???. Now my basics are clear!!!.
Ingredients: Coconut 1 cup Green chillies 4 Asafoetida(hingu) a pinch Tamarind 1/2 tea spn Salt
Method: Grind all the ingredients with little water.
Serves : 5 Preparation time : 10min
