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Monday, April 30, 2007

Methi - Aloo Sevai

I have been in love with green leafy vegetables ever since I was able to distinguish between vegetables. Be it the ocassionally visible, glorious gongura, the adorable amaranth (thota koora), the fragrant fenugreek greens (methi / menthi koora) or the scrumptious spinach (palak /pala koora). Anything my mom prepared with them, I used to enjoy. Here, our only Indian acquaintances have been fenugreek leaves and spinach. Several years back, occasionally I could lay my hands on gongura and thotakoora. Not any more. The only times, I see them now are on the wonderful Indian food blogs.
For this month's Jihva, I pushed till the end to see if I could get some gongura or thotakoora. I went on several futile, shopping trips till yesterday and I had to rely on my old favorite methi for good. Coming to methi leaves, they are a bunch of special kind. Those pretty, aromatic leaves can add special zing to any dish, they are a part of. The signature fragrance, when cooked could never go unnoticed.
Apart from the pappu I prepare, I make use of them in preparing a nutritious and wonderful dish, Methi - Aloo Bhath. It is a simple, fulfilling meal any time, any day. For a change, I have used rice vermicelli / sevai instead of rice, in my regular recipe.

Ingredients used:
Rice vermicelli is sold at Indian grocers or Asian food aisles in supermarkets. I am recently buying (Thailand product), Erawan brand rice vermicelli which comes in one pound package. It contains 3 coils of vermicelli strands. I used half of one of those coils.

Sevai / Rice vermicelli - See above
Methi (fenugreek) leaves - 2 cups or a big bunch
Potatoes, peeled & chopped into small cubes - 1 cup
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Vangibhath Powder (homemade or use MTR brand) - 2 Tbsp
Salt- accordingly
Oil - 4 Tbsp
Cashews - 1 Tbsp (Optional)
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Lemon Juice (Optional)


I always use fresh methi leaves. Don't be tempted to use the frozen variety when it comes to methi leaves. In sheer greediness to earn money, the companies which sell these leaves are adding the stems too, which makes the dish bitter. Pluck the leaves from methi stems. Throw away the stems. Wash the leaves and chop them roughly.

Cook the rice vermicelli according to the directions on the package. Drain all the water and keep it aside. If you have boiling water ready, the cooking part will take less than five minutes. You can just break the long strands of vermicelli with a spoon after they are cooked, if you don't wish to eat the long strands of vermicelli.
Heat oil in a pan. Add chanadal, urad dal and mustard seeds. When the dals start turning red and mustard seeds start popping, add cashews if using and curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds, add potato cubes and methi leaves, stir and close the lid. Turn down the heat to lowest setting and cook them till potatoes are tender. By the time, methi leaves would have wilted and would have released their wonderful aroma. Now add vangibhath powder and salt. Fry for a minute and add the cooked sevai. Stir the mixture until the vermicelli is uniformly coated with vangibhath powder.
Squeeze a bit of lemon juice before serving. (Optional)


My entry for Mahanandi's JFI - Greens and Saffron Trail's WBB, hosted together by Indira of Mahanandi.

Post a comment.

15 comments:

Richa said...

hey suma, ur methi sevai looks YUM! methi is such a fav at my place too and yes the frozen methi has just too many sticks for my liking!
thanks for this unique recipe!

FH said...

Looks delicious.MT made the same too but without potato and Vangibhath pd.I sowed some methi last week,I will make it as soon as I get some of those:))Thanks for the recipe.

Do you know Gongura is called Hemp in English?!;D

I came to know that recently and I thought "oh,no,I have Hemp pickle in the fridge"!!

Suganya said...

Hay methi sevai looks YUMMY!... Different recipe...

bee said...

nice one, suma. i'm gonna try this with poha.

Suma Gandlur said...

Richa,
Thanks.

Asha,
Thanks. I could not guess who MT is.
I have never heard the word hemp. Nanu gongura chutney Latha RCI goskara save madittidini. :-)

Suma Gandlur said...

Sukanya,
Thanks.

Bee,
You gave me a new idea.

DEEPA said...

Hey ....too good ..methi sevia ...first time i am hearing this ..Looks delicious ...

Viji said...

Lovely recipe Suma. Viji

Anonymous said...

I am wow!! at first line. You sure made your mom happy :). The dish looks appetizing. Many uses of Methi.

krystyna said...

Hi Suma!
I am in love with green leafy vegetables all time. This looks delicious and beautiful.
Thanks a lot!
Have a great, successful day!

Menu Today said...

Hi Suma,
Yummy and Healthy looking Sevai!!!! Good entry for JFI and WBB. Thanks for sharing.

swapna susarla said...

the plate looks tasty suma!!

Aahaar Vihaar said...

Hi suma, Nice recipe. Methi- Aloo sevai, that's new to me. Will have to try it. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

te methi sevai looks yummy and what a healthy way of cooking sevai ..loved the recipe

Anonymous said...

Suma,

The Methi-Aloo sevai is novel, I am hearing for the first time. Thanks for sharing this.

we have an innovative automatic sevai maker SevaiMagik. Please visit sevaimagic.com for more info.