Spinach Porrial

Some 'Fun Facts' about Spinach:

 ·       Spinach belongs to the goosefoot family along with Swiss chard and beets. It is low in calories, and is a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A and minerals, especially iron.

·       Spinach is a native plant of Persia (modern day Iran).

·       March 26th is National Spinach Day.

·       Spinach is best eaten fresh and loses nutritional properties with each passing day. For long-term storage, freeze while fresh.

·       There are many varieties of spinach, though they mostly fall into three distinct groups - Savoy (Dark green, crinkly and curly leaves. Commonly found in supermarkets.), flat or smooth leaf spinach (Most commonly used for canned and processed spinach products) and Semi-savoy (Hybrid variety with slightly crinkled leaves.

(Source: https://bit.ly/3dHVdNX)

For this recipe I used what is commonly called ‘Kerala Spinach’. It comes in two varieties – red and green. You may have seen it in your supermarket. Of course, you can definitely use any kind of spinach for this recipe.

You can also check out the video on my Youtube Channel at - @spinachporrial

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Ingredients:

4 cups spinach leaves, finely chopped

3 small green chillies, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

½ cup of fresh coconut

10 small onions (shallots or sambar onions)

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 tbsp coconut oil

Salt to taste

 

Method:

Add the onions, green chillies, turmeric powder & salt to the coconut.

Mix well and leave aside to infuse. This needs to rest for at least 10 minutes for all the flavours to blend well together.

Heat the oil in a pan on a low to medium heat.

Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, garlic and chilli flakes. 

Sauté for about 2 minutes or at least until the mustard seeds splutter.

Now add the spinach and stir-fry until the spinach is cooked. Not too long as we don't want the spinach to be overcooked and wilted.

Finally, add the coconut mixture and stir until well combined. This will take about 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.

Goes best with rice and curry. My favourite combo is steamed rice, dhal curry, a meat/chicken/fish curry and this dish. YUM!

Note: Spinach cooks very quickly, so take care. This dish needs to be cooked on a low to medium flame so that the ingredients don't get over-cooked. 

XOXO, Jovanka