Keerai Molagootal

Keerai molagootal is a dish originated from kerala. The aroma of coconut oil in spinach gravy is the special in this dish. When I visited my brother's place at Coimbatore, my sister in law who is a palakadu brahmin prepared this dish for us. It was awesome and I asked her this recipe. Last weekend I had a bunch of spinach. So instead of making the normal spinach gravy, I prepared this molagootal and it came out well. Thanks to my SIL.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Spinach (Any type)- 1 bunch.
2. Yellow moong dal/Pasi paruppu- 3 tbls.
3. Coconut scrapped- 1/2 cup.
4. Coconut oil- 2 tsp.
5. Mustard seeds- 1 tsp.
6. Urad dal/ Ulatham paruppu- 1 tsp.
7. Cumin seeds- 1 tsp.
8. Red chilly dried- 3 nos.
9. Salt- As needed.
10. Sugar-1/2 tsp.

METHOD:

1. Wash and clean the spinach. Separate the leaves from its stem. Heat a pan and add the spinach leaves with 2 spoons of water. Add sugar. It helps to retain its greenish color. When the quantity of spinach is reduced and it starts boiling, switch off the flame and allow this to cool.

2. Cook the moong dal with 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker. It should be in mashing consistency.

3. Heat a pan and dry roast urad dal, cumin seeds and red chillies. Allow this to cool and grind it into a smooth paste along with coconut. Add little water while grinding this.

4. Grind the cooked spinach into a smooth paste and add to this ground paste. Bring this to boil. Once it starts boiling, add the cooked moong dal. Add salt to taste and cook for 2-3mins.

5. Switch off the flame. In a separate pan, heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds. Once it cracks, add this to the spinach gravy.

Serve hot with steamed rice and Kerala's famous papadam.

 NOTES:
1. You can pressure cook spinach and moong dal together and grind it.
2. I used palak. You can use any kind of spinach.