I have been thinking of this recipe for quite a while now. With the scare on bagged spinach, I thought its better to be safe than sorry and didn’t buy spinach for almost 2 months. I bought a bunch from Indian store last weekend.
This is my grandmother (Dad’s mom) recipe and I had to call my mom for the exact ingredients and method. It is a very earthy, nutritious and low-fat dish.
Palakura Pulusu (Spinach Soup)
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Spinach – washed and chopped
- 1 Red onion – medium, chopped
- 4 chilies Green – chopped
- 2 tbsps Tamarind pulp
- 2 tbsps Rice flour
- to taste Salt
For tempering (Tadka):
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- ½ tsp Fenugreek seeds (Menthulu)
- 2 chilies Dry red
- 4 - 5 Curry leaves
- a pinch Asafetida
Instructions
- Take spinach and onions with 1 cup of water in a saucepan; cover and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add green chilies, salt and tamarind juice (add ¼ cup water to tamarind pulp to make the juice); cook for 10minutes.
- In the mean time, mix the flour with ¼ cup water to make slurry with no lumps. Add this to the spinach mixture and cook for another 5 minutes till the mixture is slightly thickened.
- Remove from heat and add the tadka or tempering. For tempering, heat 1 tsp oil in a small saucepan, add all the ingredients listed, let the seeds splutter. Add this to the spinach mixture. Serve with rice.
Notes
Praveena
This is an interesting dish! I am looking for ways to increase my iron content and it seems like this is a good recipe to start. Thanks Pavani.
Anonymous
Great recipie !! My love for spinach is endless, now I found a new way to make it, well its definetly on my “to-cook” list now.
Menu Today
Hi Pavani,
In our house we call this dish as “Puli Vitta Keerai”.Yours look nice. Thanks for sharing.
Anonymous
Pavani,
Thanks for blogging this recipe. I am always in the look-out for more Spinach recipes, just because it is
healthy and available. Should try it sometime. BTW, why are you scared of bagged spinach, just curious ?
Cheers,
Nav
Pavani
Thanks Praveena, Do try it and let me know if you liked it.
Thank you Anonymous and Menu Today.
Hi Nav,
Thanks for your comments. Do try it and let me know.
About 2 months ago there was a outbreak of e-coli bacteria from bagged spinach causing few deaths across the U.S. Thank god its over now.(http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/10/06/tainted.spinach/index.html)
Anonymous
Pavani – the soup looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Sara
It looks wonderful. I miss spinach.
Vini K
Hi Pavani,
I have often made this pulusu as a substitute for the times when I do not get fresh thotakura.(My mom makes great thotakura pulusu)I put vegetables too,like bhindi,potato,sometimes pumpkin and drumstick.