Kuthiraivali-Spinach-Pancake

#KuthiraivaliSpinachPancake : #Kuthiraivali is one of the #minormillets which is rich in fiber and thiamin [ Vitamin B6 ]. #Millets are small seeded grass which grow well in dry places as a rain fed crop. 
#Millets are grouped into two categories as #Majormillets and #Minormillet. Ragi, Sorghum & Pearl millet grouped under major millet as the name suggests grown in major part of India. Little millet [ Samai ], Barnyard millet [ Kuthiraivali ], Foxtail Millet [ Thinai ] & Kodo millet come under minor millet. These are cultivated in only some parts of India and consumed by very small population.
#Kuthiraivali is known by different names in various languages as given below.
English                               : #BarnyardMillet Or Japanese Barnyard Millet
Common Name                  : Sawan Or sanwa Or Samo Or Morio
Marathi & Chhattisgarh       : Bhagar Or Varai
Kannada                             : Oodalu
Oriya                                  : Kira
Punjabi                               : Swank
Telugu                                : Udalu Or Kodi Sama
Scientific Name                   : Echinochloa Frumentacea
Source : Echinochloa , Barnyard Millet 
To know on Millets

Millet has to be soaked for a minimum of two hours before cooking to get its full health benefit and also to cook soft.

The pancake preparation involves three stages

• Soaking #Kuthiraivali for two hours and then cooking
• Making dough adding greens and other ingredients
• Spreading dough on plantain leaf and cooking on tawa

The ingredients given below is enough to make 6 -7 pancakes approximately.

Ingredients :
1/2 Cup	Kuthiraivali [ Barnyard Millet ]
To coarsely grind :
1 or 2	Green chilly [ Adjust ]
1/2 Tsp	Cumin seed
5 - 6	Pudhina leaves [ Mint ]
To make dough :
1/2 Tsp	Cumin seed
1/4 Tsp	Ajwain [ Omam ]
1 pinch	Turmeric powder
2 Tbsp	Spinach chopped nicely
1 Tbsp	Coriander leaf chopped
1 Tbsp	Vazhaipoo chopped [ optional ]
1/2 Tsp	Salt [ Adjust ]
1 Tbsp	Besan [ Kadalai maavu ]

Gingelly oil [ til/sesame ] or any cooking oil to spread and to make pancake on tawa.

Method :
Take kuthiraivali [ barnyard millet ] in a 2 or 3 liter pressure cooker.
Wash it with water two or three times and drain completely.
Now soak in 1 cup of water for 2 hours.
After two hours pressure cook for a whistle and 3 minutes at Sim.
Open the cooker only after it ran out of steam.
Transfer into a wide mouthed vessel.
Mash with a potato masher or using a blender.

Take green chilly, pudhina leaves and cumin seeds in a mixie jar.
Grind coarsely and transfer into the vessel containing mashed kuthiraivali.
Add all other chopped ingredients and knead well with hand into a tight dough.
If the dough is slightly loose, add either rice flour or besan [ kadalai maavu ] to make it a tight dough.
Divide the dough into equal portions and make into a ball.

Heat tawa on a stove over medium flame.
Take a clean and dry plantain leaf or a plastic sheet to spread the dough.
Grease the leaf and hand with oil.
Keep a ball on the leaf and gently spread into a pancake.
Keep greasing fingers regularly to avoid dough sticking to them.
Sprinkle oil on tawa and gently transfer pancake onto the tawa.
Sprinkle oil over the pancake and also along the rim of the pancake.
Flip pancake using a dosai ladle once rim turns golden color.
Again sprinkle some oil and cook both sides well.
Transfer onto a serving plate.

In the same way spread each ball into a pancake on the leaf and cook well on hot tawa. Idli Milagai podi or Milagu podi [ Pepper powder ] can also be sprinkled on the pancake while spreading dough on the leaf to get more spicy and aromatic #KuthiraivaliSpinachPancake. 

Serve hot with Coconut Chutney or Mint Chutney or any chutney of your choice.

You may also like to try :

Paruppu Adai

Vazhaipoo spinach Adai

Pesarattu

Arisi Roti

Kezhvaragu Adai

For other Adai/Pancake Varieties

Adai/Pancake

To cook for breakfast/Dinner

Tiffin varieties

Spinach Lentil

#SpinachLentil : This is called #SambarPasalai in Tamil. These leaves are not commonly available in vegetable market or on the shelves of super market. You could see these plants with rosy purple color flowers on waste lands or in parks as weeds or in backyard gardens.

The leaves are slightly sour in taste. So in my view it got its name 'Sambar Pasalai'. It cooks very quickly, even quicker than Kodi pasalai or Palak.
Generally all green leafy vegetables are rich sources of vitamins, minerals and fibers. It is very important to include atleast any one green leaves in our food daily. The vitamins and minerals present in these green leaves are more than the much fancied carrots.

Ingredients :
1/2 cup                                  Sambar Pasalai
1                                            Onion, nicely chop
1 or 2                                    Green Chilly, split lengthwise
1                                            Red chilly, break into pieces
1                                           Tomato, chop nicely
1 or 2 Tbsp                           Coriander leaves nicely chopped
8                                           Curry leaves
1/4 cup                                 Green gram dhall
1/4 Tsp                                 Asafoetida
1/2 Tsp                                 Mustard seeds
1/2 Tsp                                 Cumin seeds
1 Tsp                                    Urad dhall
1/4 cup                                 Coconut milk
1/2 Tsp                                Oil

Method :
Wash pasalai leaves 2 or 3 times in water and place over a cutting board to drain excess water.

Pressure cook dhall adding a pinch of turmeric powder & 1.2 cup water for 3 whistles and 4 minutes at SIM. Set aside.
Heat a kadai with oil over a slow flame.
Crackle mustard and cumin seeds.
Then add broken pieces of red chilly, asafoetida powder and urad dal.

Fry till dhall turns golden color and then add green chilly, curry leaves, half of coriander leaves and onion.
Saute until onion gives out a nice aroma.

Then add chopped tomato and saute for 2 minutes.
Add cooked dhall and 1/2 cup of water.
Bring it to boil and allow to simmer until onion becomes soft.
Keep the flame at SIM and then add chopped pasalai leaves and coconut milk.

Mix well and allow to simmer until leaves get cooked.

Turn off stove and add coriander leaves.

Transfer into a serving bowl.

This is mixed with hot white rice adding a dash of ghee and relished with sambar and curry / poriyal.

This lentil also goes well with poori and chappathy.
Unlike other green leafy vegetables it changes to dull green color after cooking. But its sourness gives a distinct taste to the recipe.






 You may also like to try

vazhaipoo koottu

noolkhol leaf lentil

vegetable pulillacurry

venthayakeerai thakkali koottu

venthayakeerai dhal

For other tasty dishes

Recipe Index

Ideas for breakfast and dinner

Tiffin Varieties

For Lunch Dishes

Lunch Recipes Index

Spinach Poori

#SpinachPoori : Green leafy vegetables are good source of fibers, vitamins and minerals.
Spinach is known as kodi pasalai in Tamil.
Spinach is very nutritious and rich in antioxidants when taken fresh or cooked quickly.
So spinach can be used for garnishing the food at the end or in salad as fresh leaves to get the full nutrition.
It is a rich source of Vitamin A and has other Vitamins such as C, E and K. It is a great source of minerals like potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron etc.,....
Here let us see the method of preparing spinach poori.

Ingredients :

Ingredients for dough :

Whole wheat flour                  : 3/4 cup
Maida                                    : 3/4 cup
Spinach                                  : 10 - 15

Salt                                        : 1/2 tsp (adjust )

Ghee                                       : 1/2 tsp

Oil                                          : 1 tsp

To fry :

Any cooking oil                      : 1 cup

I used refined sunflower oil.

To make poori :

Chappathy maker.
Method :

Keep a kadai on a stove on a stove over a slow flame.

Now we start preparing dough.

Wash Spinach thoroughly with water and grind into a smooth paste adding 1/4 cup of water.

Take all other ingredients in a basin and rub with fingers to mix ghee with the flour.
Now add spinach paste and knead into a dough.


Add 1 tsp of oil and knead well to get a smooth and thick dough.

The dough would become more elastic and smooth.
Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Make perfect balls with palms.

Put a few drops of oil and apply well over both top and bottom plates of chappathy maker/chappathy press.

This is done to avoid dough sticking to the plate.

Keep one ball on oiled bottom plate of the chappathy maker. 

Close and give equal pressure over the dough ball by pressing with handle over the top plate to make poori.

Now keep the burner at medium flame.
The oil should be fuming and smoky to get fluffy poori.

Slowly glide the poori along the side of the kadai inside the smoking oil.

It expands like a balloon. Slowly turn the other side to cook.

Drain oil and transfer onto a plate lined with kitchen paper.


Serve with poori masala 


or potato kuruma 


or tomato bhindi curry.

Can also be enjoyed with milk.

Poori also goes well with sugar or jaggary.

Note : 

• Each and every time grease the plates of chappathy maker with oil.
• Oil should be very hot and smoking to get fluffy soft poori.
• As far as possible prepare poori immediately after kneading dough.
• The rounds made using chappathy maker should be of equal thickness.

Other poori recipes to try 
[ click once on the image to take you to the post ]

Poori

Beetroot Poori

Red greens Poori

Poori kizhangu

Ideas for Breakfast/Dinner

Tiffin Recipes

Accompaniments for tiffin

Side dish recipes

Spinach Rice

#SpinachRice : Green leafy vegetables are good source of fiber and iron. #Spinach [ kodi pasalai ] is very rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B 6 and Vitamin B 12. It has minerals like Calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium. But the leaves have to be cooked very quickly or eaten raw to get the nutrients.

Here comes the recipe.

Ingredients :
1/2 cup                           Basmati Rice or Raw Rice
1                                    Onion, chop nicely
8 - 10 cloves                   Garlic, chop nicely
1/2 Tsp                           Red chilly powder [ I used avakkai urugai chilly-oil mix ]
1/2 cup                           Spinach chopped nicely
1/2 cup                           Mushroom chopped very nicely [ optional ]
3/4 Tsp                           Salt
1 cup                              Water.

To Temper :
3                                    Bay leaves
4                                    Cloves
3                                    Cardamom
1/2 Tsp                          Cumin
4 Tsp                             Gingelly oil [ til / sesame oil ]
 Coriander leaves to garnish

Method :
Wash and soak rice in water.
Heat a kadai over slow flame with 4 Tsp of gingelly oil.
When heated up splutter cumin and then add cloves, cardamom and bay leaves.
Then add garlic and onion.
Saute for 3 minutes or until onion becomes pale pink color.
Drain water completely from rice and add into the kadai.
Keep the flame at high.
Stir well until the rice turns bright white color.
Transfer into a pressure cooker.

Add water, avakkai urugai chilly-oil mix and salt.

Mix well and close the lid with weight on.
Heat at 800 on an induction stove for a whistle.
Reduce the temperature to 120 and cook for 5 minutes.
Open the cooker after the steam has completely subsided.
Now add spinach and mushroom and delicately mix with a ladle.
Take care not to mash the rice.

Close the lid with weight on and keep on the induction stove at 120.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Open after 2 minutes.
Now the tasty Spinach rice is ready. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Enjoy hot spinach rice with thayir pachadi or with any kara curry.
Here served with Maangai Pachadi and Colacasia Kara Curry.

Some more recipes you might like to try :

Spinach Poori

Sirukeerai Dosai

Sambar Pasalai dhal

Spinach Kuzhipaniyaram

Kodi pasalai dhal