“AlsandeBee- Tambade Bhajji Ambat (Black- eyed Pea/ Cow Pea- Red Amaranth Leaves Curry)” served with Ukde SheetHa … this is a delicious onion seasoned aromatic curry from Konkani Saraswat Cuisine that one just can’t resist savoring with rice … Yummilicious ….
** Plenty of Ambat dishes both Veg and Non.Veg have been blogged here before, so what shall I say except that we love it and so will you, all you need to do is give a try. Red Amaranth leaves called as Tambadi bhajji in Konkani is usually available all round the year. However, during monsoon you need to be careful, as if the source of vendor is not good they may contain lots of worms which is not only unpleasant but very difficult to deal with despite treating with all types of home tips and tricks. This has happened with me and all I did was chuck it out, so be careful when cleaning and cutting them.
** All said and done these leaves are not only tasty but also good for health especially when prepared as simple upkari/ bhaji with garlic seasoning and served as side dish during meals. I always prepare it during the onset of summer months when lunch is a simple affair of Dalitoy/ Saar- Upkari served with steamed Rice and Upkari, may be a little bit of nonche/ pickle or papad/ vodi to go along with it that’s it and trust me simple but one of the best combo that is soul satisfying and a great way of cooling the body from rising summer heat. You must try it and savor to know about the benefits of such meals.
** Coming to Ambat, I have written it all in my previous post and anything I write will only be repetition, so I guess we should just move on to recipe which again I must mention is the same as previously posted in different combination. However, to avoid searching time I will repeat the same here again. Just for info, I would like to mention here that Ambat is a gravy dish prepared with pulses along with veggies, or veggies by themselves or with fish too. Ambat is a curry which topped with browned finely chopped onions as seasoning/ tempering which in Konkani is referred to as piyavu panna, tastes excellent.
** Here is the simple Recipe to “AlsandeBee- Tambade Bhajji Ambat (Black- eyed Pea/ Cow Pea- Red Amaranth Leaves Curry)” … My Style …
** Wash well and soak one cup of AlsandeBee (Cow Pea/ Black- eyed Pea) in plenty of water overnight or 6-8 hours. When done drain off the water, rinse well under running water till clean and then put it into a pressure cooker pan in layer and keep it aside.
** Now, clean and finely chop the Tambadi Bajji/ Red Amaranth leaves. Wash them in plenty of water to clean off all the mud it any. You can also chop and add in the tender stems and if the stems are thicker cut them into 1 inch sized pieces and add them on, they taste simply great. Drain off all the water and put them in a pressure cooker on top of the dal.
** Note : If the bunch is large you can use the leaves and the thicker stems along with some of the tender stems for ambat and keep the remaining tender stems aside to prepare ambado/ pattice or sannapolo etc. they taste awesome with tender stems. I always keep aside 2 cups of the fresh tender stems for ambado. You can check the same previously posted in my blog.
** Add amaranth leaves, say about 5-6 cups of chopped ones into the pressure cooker above the alsande bee in a layer and add in about 1-2 cups of water. Cover the cooker lid and pressure cook on medium heat for 1-2 whistles, then lower the heat and cook for another 5 minutes. Don’t worry if the cooker lets out a few whistles, raise the heat and let cook to another whistle then remove pressure cooker pan from heat and keep it aside to get cooled to be able to open the lid.
** Avoid releasing the pressure from the cooker in a hurry to finish cooking faster. Doing so at times makes the peas remain uncooked so wait for the pressure to fall on its own. When able to do so, gently open and add the cooked ingredients into a thick bottomed stainless steel vessel to cook the curry and keep it aside ready while we go about preparing the masala to be ground for the curry.
** For the Masala to be ground : Add 1 heaped cup of freshly grated Coconut (Soyi/ Nariyal), 8-10 Kashmiri Dry Red Chilly (Kumte Mirsanga/ Byadgi Mirchi) and a small marble sized ball of Tamarind (Chinchama/ Imly) into a mixer grinder and grind to a very fine paste with just a little bit of water.
** Note : You can use the cooked dal-bajji water from pressure cooker to grind the masala too. That is what we usually do. We strain the water and grind the masala with it, and after removing the masala we add in a the remaining cooked water into the vessel of grinder and swirl it round to give it a nice wash and add that water to the curry too. This is actually called stone washed water as in olden days stone grinder was used for grinding purpose.
** Add the ground paste to the cooked ingredients in a vessel and mix all together well. Add Salt (Namak/ Meeta) to taste and add in water if needed to bring to a thick gravy consistency. Add in a small Onion (Piyavu/ Kanda) chopped finely too and cook all on medium heat till it comes to a boiling point. Keep stirring in between to avoid the curry getting burnt at the bottom, then lower the heat and let the curry simmer.
** For Seasoning/ Tempering/ Pannaka : Heat 2 tblsp of any edible Oil (Tel/ Tela) in a small thick bottomed pan, when hot add in a medium sized finely chopped Onion (Piyavu/ Kanda) and fry on medium heat till it turns brown evenly and then pour it over the simmering curry.
** Remove the curry from heat, cover with a tight lid and keep it aside for the flavors to get seeped in. Ambat should always be kept aside for a good 20-30 minutes as the flavor of the onions should get embedded with the curry only then it tastes awesome. The curry also thickens on cooling, so to check in the consistency properly before serving, you can add some boiling water if need be.
** “AlsandeBee- Tambade Bhajji Ambat (Black- eyed Pea/ Cow Pea- Red Amaranth Leaves Curry)” is done and ready to be served. You can serve this dish with any type of cooked or steamed rice of your choice, but it tastes best served with Red Boiled Rice (Ukde SheetHa) and in my home we love it that way.
** If you do not prefer boiled rice it, you can serve the same with ordinary rice or jeera rice too. If you want to serve it with roti, parathas, poori, panpolo or any other dosa too. Just remember not to thin out the gravy consistency if your are serving with these items. Keep it slightly thicker in texture than when serving with rice, tastes good too.
** Sharing a common link to all “Ambat” recipes shared in the blog before, you may browse through in leisure and try them out whenever time permits. They are all tasty and sure to be loved by all, do give me a feedback if possible …
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