Keerai(Spinach) Poritha Kozhambu

This recipe is my mother's recipe and she usually makes it on weekends or for guests. Most weekends we used to have dosa for breakfast and she would have made this kozhambu for lunch. But we used to end up eating this with dosas. This kozhambu is usually eaten with rice.


Poritha Kozhambu is nothing but a kind of sambar made with fried ingredients (spices). Instead of spinach, drumsticks can be used to make this kozhambu.


Ingredients


1 lb Spinach, washed and finely chopped

1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

1/2 Urad Dal

1 Tblsp grated fresh Coconut

1 tsp rice

Pinch of Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Sambar Powder (I use MTR Brand)

Asafoetida (few dashes)

Handful of Tuvar Dal

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Mustard seeds

Procedure

Soak 1 tsp of rice in a small cup for about 45 minutes. Pressure the cook tuvar dal and mash it well. Cook the chopped spinach with 1.5 cups of water, salt, turmeric powder and the sambar powder. Redden the urad dal in little oil and grind it together with pepper, cumin seeds, coconut gratings and the soaked rice. Add little water to grind the above into a smooth paste. Add this paste to the cooked spinach mixture along with cooked, mashed tuvar dal. Check for salt and bring it to a boil. Heat rest of the oil and sputter the mustard seeds and add the asafoetida to the kuzhambu before serving.


This is my entry to two events- the first of the Veggie Cuisine's LakshmiK RCI's, Tamil Cuisine, and Mahanandi Indira's JFI-WBB: Green Leafy Vegetables.