SPINACH BALLS IN TOMATO CURRY

SPINACH BALLS IN TOMATO CURRY

#Edited: - This recipe was featured as the best recipe on Real Food Friday blog hop, check here.

PALAK KOFTA CURRY

 

Three years ago, when I went to Vancouver during the summer holidays, I saw a bird show, that was named “birds of prey in action”, on the hill top of Grouse Mountain. It was really an amazing show; birds flew meters into the sky and dived back within a few minutes to take a bite of meat from the girl who was performing this show. Different types of birds were there- owls, falcons, hawks, and eagles.

 Those birds were trained for that demonstration, and it seems the birds were enjoying the show as much as we were enjoying. I was amazed to see that show and thought how much patience and time those trainers might have devoted to training those birds. Then I came to the conclusion that nothing is impossible in this world, anything can be done with time and dedication.

I enjoyed that trip so much and want to go and see it again. I am also sharing some pics below, of this show, which were taken by my son-in-law who is a photographer. This is the most popular summer program on that mountain which is viewed by hundreds of people every day during the summer months.

Here is the link, in which you can see the video.

In the evening when we reached our hotel room, my grandson who was seven years old, explained me about the birds, which he had learned in his school. He told me how thousands of birds migrate from Canada in winter to warmer countries, they fly and travel kilometres and kilometres to settle in a new place, and when summer returns to Canada, they travel back. I enjoyed his lesson fully and was pleased to see/know his knowledge about birds and in general about Canada as well. This lesson and explanation of him were not new to me, this is a normal routine for me. Whenever he comes back from school, with all his enthusiasm and excitement, he will start like this, “Do you know, grandma? ….”- and the whole lesson will continue on with whatever his teacher taught him that particular day in class. This is a lot of fun and a memorable moment to enjoy, for a proud grandma like me.

Coming to the recipe, I tasted spinach balls in tomato gravy, in a restaurant in Vancouver and really enjoyed it. When I reached home, I tried the same recipe, based on the taste and look of that particular dish, it came out very nice. I was glad to have another recipe for spinach, as it is green and a healthy vegetable. In this recipe, I have used a small pack of frozen spinach, because in this recipe it is easier and faster compared to the fresh one.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• I packet of frozen spinach (400 grams)
• 3 tbs chickpeas flour
• 1 big onion (200 grams)
• 2 big tomatoes (400 grams)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a small piece of ginger
• Salt and red pepper to taste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbs oil and some oil for frying the balls

METHOD

• Thaw the frozen spinach and remove all the water, then slice it again to make sure there is no whole leaf of spinach left.
• Dry roast the chickpeas flour in a frying pan on low heat, once it is changing the colour to a few shades darker, remove from gas and leave it to cool.
• When cool, add chickpeas flour into spinach with little salt and pepper and make small balls, and fry them on medium heat. Once they turn into light brown golden colour, take them out and drain on kitchen towel.
• For curry, roughly chop ginger, garlic, onion, and tomatoes,
• Heat 2 tbs oil in a saucepan and add cumin seeds when seeds are changing the colour, add ginger, garlic, onion and saute till light brown, add tomatoes and saute for another five minutes. Add all other spices and leave it to cool.
• When this mixture is cold, make a puree in a blender, with 1/2 cup of water.
• Boil again in a saucepan; when boiling, add the spinach balls, leave it on low heat for 5 more minutes.
• Serve hot with roti, naan, rice or dinner bun.

I am sending this dish as my blog post entry for Meatless Monday and What'd do you do this weekend., and with Eat your greens, and with Tasty Tuesday C. Kids, and Healthy Happy and Green party, with Cook blog share, and Hearth and soul blog hop, and with Way wow blog hop, and with Full plate Thursday, and My two fav things on Thursday, I am also sharing with Funtastic Friday, and Real Food Friday, and with Fiesta Friday with Mila  and Hilda and Food and Fitness Friday, and with Tuesday Tutorial, and with Sunday food and fitness party,