“Malabar Spinach ~ Whole Bengal Gram Curry / Vali ~ Kalo Chano Ghalnu Gashi” … A delicious spicy aromatic curry prepared with Malabar Spinach / Vali / Mayalu / Basale with the addition of chana that goes very well with red ukda rice / red boiled rice … Yummy Yumz ….
** Malabar Spinach or Vali is a leafy vegetable, a creeper with thick stems that is one of Konkani Saraswat favorite and we prepare many dishes using the same. I am sure all of you know of the leafy vegetable as I have posted this quite often before. Black Chana or Whole Bengal gram is also a favorite amongst GSB’s and we mostly prepare either upkari / bhaji or Gashi (curry) with the same. Today I have prepared Chane Gashi but with the addition of Vali and it tastes simply awesome. Usually in GSB's cuisine Koddel means curry seasoned with garlic, Gashi means curry seasoned with Mustard~Curry leaves and Ambat means seasoning with onions. This is more so in the southern parts of India specially Mangalore side. That is the way we grew up listening the dish names. But in the Northern side there is somewhat a mixture of things and initially, I used to get confused when gashi was referred as ambat. But may be things are different in other place in some other way.
** I have prepared these dishes separately before as ambat and gashi and this time round I decided to prepare the same adding both together. I have made slight variation in preparation method by adding in few extra spices than how we do regularly and also frying the masala before grinding too a fine paste. This is not the normal traditional method in which a gashi is prepared. But gashi is a word I have come across frequently being used by other religion people to understand Saraswat Cuisine. Aslo here I have fried the coconut to ligth colour and in Konkani the dish with fried coconut is called gashi too. And since I had to name this dish something I decided on gashi as I wanted the world to understand that is GSB cuisine the minute its read. Also, I could not name it the other way as that would not be understood in general. Anyway as Shakespeare once said what is there in a name. It's the dish that counts and trust me this one is simply awesome. Do try this out and relish this with rice or roti and enjoy the meal with your family and friends.
** Preparation and Cooking of Black Chana / Whole Black Bengal Gram : Pick, clean, wash and soak Black Chana / Whole Black Bengal Gram in plenty of water overnight or for at least 8-10 hrs. After that wash or rinse it under running water, put it in a pressure cooker along with water and pressure cook to one whistle on high flame. Now lower the flame to minimum and cook for 5-8 minutes. In between if the whistles blows do not worry. Once again make the flame high and cook to 2 whistles. The level of water in the cooker should be at least 2 inches above the chana leveled. Let the pressure drop on its own. Once you can open the lid, do so and allow to cool a bit. Strain off the cooked water, it case be used in preparation of saar. Sharing the link for the preparation of the saar at the bottom of the recipe. Do not waste the cooked water and do try out the saar, it tastes awesome. Now the chana is cooked and ready to be used in any curry of your choice. Here I have added it in the preparation of an aromatic gashi with Malabar Spinach.
** Peel off the skin and chop 2 large sized onions finely and keep aside ready. Also peel off the skin and chop 12-15 large sized garlic and keep aside ready.
** Wash and chop the leaves of one large bunch of Vali / Basale / Malbar Spinach finely. You should at least have 10-12 cups of chopped leaves. Cut the stems into 3 inch pieces. Rinse in colander under running water.
** Put both the chopped vali / spinach leaves along with the cut stems into the cooker and add about 2 cups of water. Pressure cook to a whistle on high flame then lower the flame to minimum and cook for 4-5 minutes. Raise the heat and pressure cook to one more whistle and remove from fire. Allow the pressure in the cooker to drop on its own.
** For the Masala to be Ground : In a small pan add in tablespoon of oil, when hot lower the heat and add in 1 tblsp of coriander seeds, 1 tsp of jeera seeds, 1/3 tsp of methi seeds, 1/3 rd tsp of mustard seeds, a pinch of haldi and fry for a few seconds. Add in 6-8 red kashmiri chillies (plus or minus depending upon individual preference) and further fry for a minutes. Lastly add in 2 cups of freshly grated coconut and fry till the colour changes slightly brown. Do not make it too much brown, just a little bit is enough.
** Add the fried masala in a mixer grinder along with a small marble sized tamarind and grind to a very fine paste. You can use the spinach cooked or the gram cooked water while grinding the masala. The masala should be ground really fine and thick, do not make the masala thin. Once done keep it ready aside.
** When the spinach has cooled enough, remove the lid and add the cooked malabar spinach into a thick bottomed large vessel along with the cooked whole bengal grams and mix well. Add in the ground masala, a little bit of the chopped onions (raw) and salt to taste. Add water if needed and bring to a thick gravy consistency. Bring the curry to a boil, on medium flame. Once it comes to full boil, lower the heat and let it simmer. Keep stirring in between to avoid the masala getting burnt.
** For Seasoning : Heat 2-3 tblsp of oil in a small pan, when hot lower the heat and add in the chopped garlic and fry till the colour changes slightly, now add in the remaining chopped onion to the pan and continue frying till the onion and garlic turns brown in colour. Do not keep the heat too high or leave the seasoning unattended, the onions may start getting burn from the sides. Keep mixing often to get evenly fried garlic and onion. Remove and pour this over the simmering curry and keep the dish covered aside for the flavors to seep into the curry.
** “Malabar Spinach ~ Whole Bengal Gram Curry / Vali ~ Kalo Chano Ghalnu Gashi” is done and ready to be served. Serve the gashi / curry hot with red ukada (boiled) rice or ordinary plain rice. This curry is best when served with rice. But you can also relish the dish with roti / paratha / poori in which case see to it that you keep the curry slightly thicker in texture than for the rice. Enjoy this curry hot with your family and friends.
** You can use the search option for either "Gashi or Koddel or Ambat or Bendi" where you will get many more dishes prepared using chana or vali / spinach. Do try out various types of dishes to relish with dosa / Idly / roti etc. or with dal-chawal too. Enjoy the dishes with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible. You can also click on the link below for checking the same.
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