Spinach - Toordal Patoli / Sandiga Koora

I love cumin flavored, protein packed patolis and they keep appearing frequently in our menu. Usually I prepare patoli using chanadal but this time prepared toordal one using M's aunt's recipe.

List of ingredients for 4 generous servings:
A spinach bunch or 2 -3 cups of roughly chopped spinach leaves along with the tender stalks
For grinding:
Toordal - 1/2 cup soaked for a couple of hours, minimum
Cumin seeds – 1 Tbsp
Red chilies - 8 to 10 (depending upon the spiciness you prefer, medium to hot)
Grated, dry coconut / copra;- 1/4 cup (optional)
For tadka: Oil – 2 Tbsp,1 tsp each - mustard seeds, chanadal, uraddal, cumin seeds, few curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Preparation:
* Soak toordal in water for a minimum of 2 hours and drain.
* Coarsely grind toordal, cumin seeds, coconut and red chilies with as little as water as possible. Place this mixture in a container and cook on medium flame in a pressure cooker without the weight, till it is done (as you steam idlis). When it is done, the mixture would be dry. It would take about an hour or more and you have to remember to keep adding water to the cooker as the water keeps evaporating, during the cooking process. If you forget, you will end up with a burnt cooker. Let it cool for a while.
* Crumble the toordal mixture, which would have become dry at this point. You can either use it immediately or freeze it and use later. Usually I prepare this in large batches and freeze it in small portions so that I can use it next time with out thawing the entire quantity. Also I prefer this steaming method to frying since less oil is used and frying the toordal paste in the oil is messier. It is done while I am taking care of million other things in the kitchen. :)
* Heat oil in a pan. Add chana dal, urad dal, cumin, mustard seeds, curry leaves to the hot oil. When chana dal and urad dal begin to turn reddish, add turmeric powder and the spinach. Sauté for a few minutes or till spinach is done. Then add the toordal mixture and salt to the pan. Sauté for a couple of minutes more. Turn off the stove.
* This patoli can be served with rice or rotis.



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