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Cheera pulinkari /Spinach in tamarind gravy

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Traditionally pulinkari is made with toor dal and coconut. However in this dish I haven’t used them. So I wonder whether I can call this curry as pulinkari. Still I prefer to call it as pulinkari as it contains tamarind. Amma used to make simple curry with only vegetables, tamarind and homemade sambar powder. Usually she cooks sambar most of the weeks along with theeyal, pulissery, rasam etc.My menu is always sambar, rasam, moru curry, occasionally theeyal and pulissery. My hubby likes whatever gravy I cook (maybe he has no other choice).
Cheera pulinkari looks like Mulligatawny soup or our favorite rasam. Tamarind makes the gravy little sweeter. Usually I make this gravy with eggplant, cucumber, onion and tomato. This time I cooked with spinach/Amaranth which was grown in my garden. I had an eggplant in the refrigerator giving me the ultimatum (By the way I love all the series of Bourne Ultimatum acted by Matt Damon) are you go to use me or not. I love high voltage action movies, or action comedy (like Big hit). So I added eggplant and onion along with spinach.
We planted some amaranth last year, only one plant showed up and there was no harvest; but we ended up getting some seeds. This year it grew very well, and may have adjusted to the climate and liked the soil. We got a bounty and the first time I made spinach dal with them. The second time around I did not want to make spinach dal and ended up with curry. To my surprise it tastes really good. I am going to keep this recipe and make this more often.

What you need

 Onion: 1 cup (Chopped finely)
Egg plant: 1 ½ cup (Chopped into cubes)
Spinach: 4 cup (Chopped finely)
Sambar powder: 1 tablespoon
Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
Oil: 2 tablespoon( I used olive oil)
Salt: 1 teaspoon
Tamarind: 1 ping pong sized
Water: 2 cups

Seasoning
Mustard seeds: ½ teaspoon
Red chilies: 2 no (cut into halves)
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Asafetodia: ¼ teaspoon

How I made

Wash and chop onions, eggplant and spinach and set aside.
In a medium sauce pot add 1 ½ tablespoon of oil and add onion and fry them until it turns color or it become translucent it takes about 6 minutes to this add chopped eggplant pieces and fry them for another 3 minutes.
In the mean time in a microwave safe small bowl heat ¼ cup of water along with tamarind in a microwave for 15 seconds at high. Extract the tamarind pulp from them and set aside.
To the eggplant onion mixture add chopped spinach /amaranth and let them wilt by it. It takes about 3 minutes. To this add salt, turmeric, 1 cup water and tamarind extract and let them boil for about 4 minutes.
Add sambar powder to the above mixture and let it boil for another 2 minutes, check the salt and spices if needed add more. Switch off the flame and set aside.
In small pan add rest of oil and mustard seeds and halved red chilies, once mustards starts spluttering add asafetodia and curry leaves and switch off the flame.
Add this seasoning to spinach tamarind gravy.
Enjoy with rice

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

Swathi

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  1. Indie.Tea says

    I don't think I've never had spinach with tamarind...it looks delicious (and sounds really really good!)

    Reply

  2. Faith says

    What a lovely way to prepare spinach! I bet it tastes great with the tamarind!

    Reply

  3. Joanne says

    I've been loving tamarind lately! What a great curry.

    Reply

  4. shahana says

    Great recipe Swati,Nannayittundu.

    Reply

  5. Ms.Chitchat says

    Interesting pulincurry. Would love to have with steamy rice.

    Reply

  6. Sandhya Hariharan says

    delicious ... !!
    thanks for dropping by my space swathi and for ur kind words.. keep coming:)

    Reply

  7. Rosa's Yummy Yums says

    That looks very good and spicy! Yummy!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply

  8. Hamaree Rasoi says

    Swathi you always come up with wonderful combination...yummy
    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

    Reply

  9. Reeni says

    Very unique and delicious sounding Swathi! I'm in love with the tamarind...

    Reply

  11. Sangi says

    Simple and tangy spinach curry.. Like it..

    Reply

  12. kitchen queen says

    delicious and healthy spinach dish.

    Reply

  13. munchcrunchandsuch says

    agmark kerala dish..

    Reply

  14. Az says

    very new to me... looks great... keep it up...

    PS: I have a giveaway going on at my site do visit and enter in the contest to win a $40 gift certificate...

    Reply

  15. Suman Singh says

    curry looks tangy and delicious..this way of preparing curry is new to me...thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  16. divya says

    Wow...very healthy and yummy...

    Reply

  17. Kamalika says

    very healthy and tasty curry dear....

    Reply

  18. lata raja says

    Dear Swathi, thanks for the comment on ginger biscuits.
    I have the recipe for preserved stem ginger in that book. I had substituted with a jam in this recipe. I am yet to try making the stem ginger at home as it is a long drawn process. If you can mail me your e-mail id, I shall mail you the recipe from the book.
    Incidentally, I have to read most posts from your space. Let me do it when I can really sit on these things, until then, keep rocking...

    Reply

  20. Sushma Mallya says

    Have never used spinach this way,but looks too good and very healthy of course..

    Reply

  21. Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says

    Hey, that looks good 🙂

    Reply

  22. simply.food says

    I have never cooked spinach in this way looks wonderful and tasty.

    Reply

  23. Premalatha Aravindhan says

    wow mouthwatering here,wat a delicious curry,yummy!

    Reply

  24. Satya says

    wow looks sooo delicious ...very interesting combo of brinjal ,spinach and tamarind pulp ...love it ..thanks for sharing

    Satya
    http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

    Reply

  25. Kiran says

    Spinach in tamarind sauce looks delicious.

    Reply

  26. Nitha says

    New to me as well.. Interesting one..

    Reply

  27. Sreelekha Sumesh says

    Delicious Pulincurry with spinach.Great with hot rice:)

    Reply

  28. Guna's kitchen says

    very interesting curry.. spinach in tamarind lukd delicious and adding sambar powder.. brings more taste to dish..

    Reply

  29. Vrinda says

    This is new to me...recipe sounds gr8 ,will giv a try...

    Reply

  30. aipi says

    that looks mouthwatering..liked the tamarind n spinach combo

    Reply

  31. Hari Chandana says

    Wowww... mouth watering recipe.. looks perfect !!

    Reply

  32. PranisKitchen says

    swathi thats a very delicious curry,, perfect with rice.. liked the tamarind with spinach and eggplant .. good one da

    Reply

  33. G.Pavani says

    yummy n mouthwatering curry swathi dear.

    Reply

  34. srividhya Ravikumar says

    delicious curry swathi..yumm

    Reply

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