"Vali ani Dali ghalnu Ambat /Malabar Spinach and Tuvar Dal Curry" ... This is a traditional curry from Konkani Saraswat Cuisine prepared with Vali/ Malabar Spinach/ Basale/ Mayalu with Dal ... Tastes awesome when served hot with rice / roti / dosa / Oondi ... Yummilicious ....
** Malabar Spinach or Vali is a leafy vegetable, a creeper with thick stems that is one of Konkani Saraswat’s favorite leafy veggie and we prepare many dishes using the same. I am sure all of you know of the leafy creeper type vegetable as I have posted this quite often before. In my hometown where there is backyard or garden facility in the compound of their own home, people often grow it and relish the same. It can easily be grown even in your window grills as the grill will give it the support to climb on and will grow beautifully, but you must have plenty of sunshine for it to grow properly. Unfortunately I have no access to sunlight and to my dismay, I cannot grow many things which otherwise I would have loved too. But, trust me you can, my friend has done so in one part of her window grill and it has grown so beautifully that she need not buy the same now.
** Coming to the part of “Vali ani Dali ghalnu Ambat” ie Malabar spinach cooked with tuvar dal, it is the traditional dish from Konkani Saraswat Cuisine prepared almost in every home. There are as I mentioned and posted before too many ways in which these leaves are cooked and prepared into delicious curries, both in Veg. and Non.Veg. It came as a surprise to me when one of my friend asked for its recipe and to my dismay I found that it was not blogged at all. I had shared many varieties of the same but somehow had missed out on the traditional one prepared with dal. Well, so here it is, the one that is most sought after dish in my community that tastes wonderful when served with rice. I am sharing a common link below that includes all dishes where in this wonderful leafy veggie is used. You may check out on them and try out various options on that which appeals to your family.
** Here is my simple recipe for "Vali ani Dali ghalnu Ambat /Malabar Spinach and Tuvar Dal Curry" … the traditional way I learnt from my Mom …
** Ingredients :
Vali/ Malabar Spinach/ Basale/ Mayalu : One small bundle.
Tuvar Dal / Tur Dal / Tori Dali / Togari Bele : 1 cup
Onion / Piyavu / Kanda : One small sized.
Sal to taste
** Masala to be Ground :
Coconut / Soyi : 1 cup finely grated fresh coconut
Kashmiri Red Chillies / Kumte Mirsanga : 8-10 chillies fried in little bit of oil.
Tamarind / Imly / Chinchama : one small marble sized ball.
** For Tempering / Seasoning :
Oil : 2-3 tblsp
Onion / Piyavu / Kanda : One medium sized.
** Peel off the skin and chop the onions both given under ingredients and tempering finely and keep aside ready separately.
** Wash and chop the leaves of one large bunch of Vali / Basale / Malbar Spinach finely. You should at least have 6-8 cups of chopped leaves. Also cut the stems into 3 inch pieces. Rinse in colander under running water and keep this ready aside. Check the picture enclosed.
** Wash the tuvar dal well and place it evenly in a layer at the bottom in a thick bottomed pressure cooker. Top it with chopped vali / Malabar spinach leaves along with the cut stems into the cooker. Now add in about 3 cups of water and pressure cook on medium heat to 2 whistles and then cook for 5-8 minutes on minimum heat.
** Once again 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. When able to open the lid do so carefully, staying away from the cooker lest the vapor hits you on face. Pour this into a thick bottomed stainless steel Vessel and keep ready.
** For the Masala to be Ground : Add in the coconut, fried red chillies (plus or minus depending upon individual preference) and the tamarind into a mixer grinder and grind to a very smooth paste with little bit of water. You can strain a little bit cooked water from the vali and dal from pressure cooker and use it too. That is what I usually do. In any case do not use too much water nor make the ground masala thinner in texture.
** Add the ground masala to the cooked Vali / Malabar Spinach and Dal in the vessel and mix well. Check and add in water if necessary to bring to a thick gravy consistency. Add in the chopped onion, salt to taste, mix well and bring to 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 oil in a small pan, when hot lower the heat and add in the chopped onion and fry till the onion 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 onion. Once browned, remove and pour this over the simmering curry and keep the dish covered aside for the flavors to seep into the curry.
** "Vali ani Dali ghalnu Ambat /Malabar Spinach and Tuvar Dal Curry” is done and ready to be served. Serve the ambat/ 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.
** The same curry is prepared with addition of raw papaya too in which case the tuvar dal is not added, also a little bit of jaggery is added on which gives it a sweeter tinge/taste. It is called "Vali Popashpala Ambat / Malabar Spinach Raw Papaya Curry". My mom loves it a lot and I prepare it often for her, though hubby and me love the ones with addition of dry prawns the best. Sharing the link for the sweeter version with papaya below if you have a sweeter tooth or love gravy with sweeter tinge.
** Sharing below a common link for dishes prepared using “Vali/ Malabar Spinach”. There are many dishes added there with lots of varieties both Veg. and Non.Veg. Do go through the link and try out those that appeal to you and your family. If this leafy creeper type veggie is available in your vicinity, do try out the dishes and give me a feedback if possible.
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