Spinach Curry / Palak Palya / Soppina Palya / Madhwa Recipe

Spinach Curry / Palak Palya Recipe

A tasty and spicy curry, a vegan / vegetarian side dish to go along with rice or any Indian flatbread. Enjoy the delicious curry for lunch / dinner.

This is a very authentic curry commonly made with Amaranth leaves in almost every Madhwa Brahmin household. Due to the unavailability of fresh Amaranth leaves in the nearby groceries. I regularly make it with the spinach leaves which is easier to find in almost all the grocers near my place.

The same curry could be made with any type of fresh green leaves available to you like, fresh dill, mountain spinach leaves, fenugreek leaves, linseed leaves, drumstick leaves etc.

Ingredients

4 cups throughly washed and chopped spinach

3/4 cup toor dal or pigeon peas spilt dal (soaked for 15 mins and pressure cooked)

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

5 dry red chillies

2 green chillies

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 tbsp jaggery or brown sugar

1/4 cup water

salt to taste

For seasoning,

1 tbsp vegetable oil or coconut oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal

1/2 tsp channa dal (split chickpeas)

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds or Methi seeds

1/4 tsp hing or asafoetida

Method

1. Heat a pan over a medium flame and add oil. Once the oil is hot (not fuming hot) add mustard seeds and after it sputters add cumin seeds, urad dal, channa dal, fenugreek seeds and hing. Make sure the seasoning doesn't burn.

2. Add the curry leaves, green and red chilies into the seasoning and fry for a a minute. Mix in the chopped spinach into the pan and sauté. 

3. Sprinkle water over the spinach and cover it 3/4 with a lid and cook for 10-15 minutes over medium heat. 

4. Once spinach is wilted and cooked well add toor dal into the pan and mix well.

5. Add the jaggery and freshly grated coconut into the pan and combine well.

6. Now add salt to taste. Mix it throughly. Spinach curry or Palak palya is ready to serve. Tastes best with hot rice or Indian flatbreads like roti, phulka or chapati with a dollop of ghee on top of the curry or as desired.