Palakoora - Vadiyala Koora

Recipe Source: Prabha Gandlur

Update: This was originally published during the second week of May and was lost because of the Blogger issues. I could not recover either the post or all the comments received. I am republishing it with a few comments I could recover.

Adding sun dried vadiyalu (vadi) to vegetable or dal preparations is common in some of the regional cuisines of India. Some of them may involve an elaborate preparation like nimona or some may feature the minimalist cooking to bring out the flavors of the ingredients used. Today's recipe is of the latter kind representing traditional Andhra cooking.
The original recipe is a very basic and simple one. It is a spinach - uraddal vadi preparation with a tadka using only mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chillies. If I include the salt and oil, there are only 7 ingredients used in the recipe and that is as minimal as possible considering that it is an Indian recipe and that too a subzi. (There is nothing wrong with the original recipe but) I added some more things to make it extra delicious.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
For tadka: 2-3 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 6 red chillies, few curry leaves, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 cup chopped onion
Spinach *
1/4 - 1/2 cup oil to fry the vadiyalu
1/2 cup minapappu vadiyalu / urad dal vadi
Salt to taste
* I used 1 lb frozen, chopped spinach. That would be about 2 cups when cooked.  If using fresh spinach, use an equivalent amount. Wash and chop the leaves finely before using it.

Check here to learn how to prepare minapappu vadiyalu / urad dal vadis.
Other recipes published here using vadis are

Nimona

Vadiyala Pulusu

Method:

* If using frozen spinach, cook in microwave for about 10 minutes. By that time, spinach thaws and gets done. If using a smaller quantity of spinach, time it accordingly.

* Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and add the tadka ingredients in the order mentioned. When chanadal turns reddish, add the onions and stir well. Cook covered on low flame until the onions turn translucent. If using fresh spinach then it is time to add to the pan. Sauté until the leaves appear cooked.

* While the onions are being sautéed, heat oil in another small pan to fry vadiyalu. When the oil is hot enough, add the vadiyalu to it and deep fry turning them around, until brown. It would take only a few seconds to fry them and so be careful to remove them as they are done. A few seconds more, they will burn. Drain them on paper towels.

* Add the microwaved spinach and salt to the cooked onion. Sauté for a couple of minutes more and turn off the stove. 

* Though the fried vadiyalu can be added to the cooked spinach subzi at this stage, I personally prefer it to add while serving to retain their crunch.

* Serve with rice and ghee.

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