Cooking for weekdays is becoming a juggling act for me. I try to keep things simple, but I still want my family to eat something fresh. My two year old is in his “terrible-twos” phase. So vegetables usually go untouched. I am finding new ways to include it back in their diet. Last week I tried this kadhi. It was simple, delicious and easy to make – 3 things which I look for in whatever I cook. Also check this spinach tambli .
Pictorial: Heat oil and add all seasoning. Then add spinach. When it is wilted, add water, salt.
Mix gram flour in buttermilk and mix well. Then add some boiling spinach water into it.
Add the mix back into boiling water. Cook for few mins.
Spinach-Buttermilk Gravy (Palak Kadhi)
Ingredients
- 2 cups thick buttermilk or curd/yogurt
- 2 green chillies
- 1/2 tea spn grated ginger
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- 3-4 curry leaves
- 1/2 tea spn urad dal
- 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds
- 1 tea spn besan gram flour
- A pinch asafoetida
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Heat a little oil and fry mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds.
- When they start popping, add green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida, ginger.
- Fry for few minutes and then add turmeric, spinach.
- When spinach is wilted, Add a cup of water, salt. Bring to boil.
- In a separate bowl, take buttermilk, besan and mix well to remove any lumps.
- Now add a ladle full of spinach-water mix into yogurt and mix very well. (This step helps in bringing up temperature of buttermilk and so it does not curdle much when heated).
- Beat the mixture very well and add it slowly back into the boiling spinach-water.
- Cook on a medium-low heat. Mix it occasionally to avoid any curdling.
- Serve with rice and some spicy side dish.
Spinach-Buttermilk Gravy (Palak Kadhi)
Ingredients
- 2 cups thick buttermilk or curd/yogurt
- 2 green chillies
- 1/2 tea spn grated ginger
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- 3-4 curry leaves
- 1/2 tea spn urad dal
- 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds
- 1 tea spn besan gram flour
- A pinch asafoetida
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Heat a little oil and fry mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin seeds.
- When they start popping, add green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida, ginger.
- Fry for few minutes and then add turmeric, spinach.
- When spinach is wilted, Add a cup of water, salt. Bring to boil.
- In a separate bowl, take buttermilk, besan and mix well to remove any lumps.
- Now add a ladle full of spinach-water mix into yogurt and mix very well. (This step helps in bringing up temperature of buttermilk and so it does not curdle much when heated).
- Beat the mixture very well and add it slowly back into the boiling spinach-water.
- Cook on a medium-low heat. Mix it occasionally to avoid any curdling.
- Serve with rice and some spicy side dish.
The kids turned 6 and 2 couple of month ago(I know I am late to post this!!). We had a combined party for both of them. We decided to have it at our home this time. Last year when we moved into this house, it was one of my dreams to have some large parties. So how could I not have a birthday party for them? It was a bit challenging for me to plan everything this time, since I had a new full time job and I hardly had any free time. But we are so glad we had it at home. We hired a balloon guy, who is one of the most creative balloon guys we have seen so far. Kids had so much fun with balloons and then they played in the backyard for almost an hour. I initially thought of ordering pizzas from outside. But thanks to V’s cousin who helped us in everything, I could manage to cook the entire meal for the party.
We had 14 families attending the party. I made spicy paneer stuffed puffs, sev bhaji , papdi chaat , matar pulav , a simple dal to go with pulav, curd rice . Along with these, we had chips and salsa, fruits and soft drinks. We got pizzas for kids too (on demand by kids!).
