Spinach Sour and Spicy

Tried and tested, inspired by Sia, of Monsoon Spice!

Ingredients:
1 medium bunch of Spinach, washed and roughly chopped (approx 2-2½ packed cups)
1 medium Onion, roughly chopped
2/3 cup Toor Dal
1 tsp Jaggery (Optional)
Salt to taste

For Coconut Paste:
½ packed cups grated fresh/frozen Coconut
1-1½ tsp Tamarind Paste (or 1 small marble sized tamarind pulp)
4-6 Dry Red Chilli (Kashmiri Chillies. Adjust as per taste)
½ tbsp Oil (preferably coconut oil)

Method:

1. Wash toor dal 3-4 times to remove any impurities and transfer it to a pressure cooker. To this add chopped spinach, onions and jaggery. Add about 3 cups of water and cover the lid. Cook it on medium flame for 20-25 minutes or until the toor dal is cooked thoroughly.
2. While the dal and vegetables are cooking, prepare the coconut paste. Heat oil in a tadka pan and add broken dry red chillies. Fry them for a minute on a medium heat. Make sure that you don’t burn the chillies as the burnt chillies will make the gravy taste bitter.
3. Transfer the fresh/frozen grated coconut, tamarind paste/pulp and roasted chillies into a mixer or food processor and grind them to smooth paste by adding very little water. Keep it aside until needed.
4. Open the lid of the pressure cooker once the pressure is released completely. Transfer the contents to the large pan and mash the dal by pressing them gently with a back of a ladle.
5. Switch on the gas and reduce the flame to medium. Transfer the ground coconut paste to the dal and vegetables and add salt to taste. Cook on a medium flame for 5-7 minutes until the curry comes to gentle boil.
6. Switch off the flame and let it rest for atleast 15 minutes for all the flavours to blend well. Serve this delicious Spinach  hot with plain rice, ghee and papad or you can also serve it as a side dish to dosa or chapatti. Enjoy!

Original recipe