Keerai Masiyal

Keerai Masiyal (Spinach gravy) is one of the simplest, easies & healthiest dishes. My mom makes simple yet yummy 'Mulai Keerai (Type of greens - Amaranth leaves) Masiyal' for which me & my bro are great fans. In US, we don't get the same type of greens that we used to get in India. Hence, I use baby spinach for this recipe.

Ingredients:
Fresh baby spinach (washed & cleaned) - 2 bags (chopped)
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp
Toor dal - cooked & mashed - 1 cup
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste

For Tempering
Oil
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Split urid dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 2 nos

Method:
Take 1/4 parts water in a deep pan / vessel. As soon as the water boils, add chopped spinach & jeera to it.

Wait until spinach is cooked and then add, salt, hing, mashed toor dal to it. Bring them to a boil and remove from heat. Splutter mustard seeds, fry red chillies & urid dal until golden brown and add it to keerai masiyal.

Tips:

• My mom adds raw cumin seeds to the spinach and lets them cook together. It gives a great flavor to keerai masiyal.
• Keerai reduces into half when cooked, so add salt only after it is cooked.
• If keerai masiyal turns out to be very watery, you can thicken it by boiling little rice flour mixed with water, along with mashed dal.
• You can also mash spinach using a masher (keerai mathu in Tamil) after its cooked, but before adding toor dal.
• Alternatively, you can also grind fresh jeera (1/2 tsp), coconut (1/2 tsp), red chillies (2 nos) and add it to keerai masiyal along with mashed toor dal.
• Keerai tastes best with vatha kuzhambu. I also like to mix keerai masiyal & vatha kuzhambu together and use it as a side for curd rice.