Palak Ka Kapa ( Kumauni style Spinach vegetable)

Palak Ka Kapa

Palak (Spinach) is rich in iron. I find fresh green spinach so tempting that I cook it in different ways and have it for either lunch or dinner almost thrice or four times a week. Apart from palak paneer, Corn with palak, Aloo palak, Palak ka kapa is one preparation I love to cook as it is easy to cook and eat it with Dal and Chawal (cooked rice) as it is so tasty that I can eat rice only with Palak ka kapa.  As in this preparation of palak, palak is not cooked for too long so it retains all its nutrients and lovely green color. It is a Kumauni preparation of palak and almost a must with Arhar ki Dal / Dubke along with Chawal and Dhania Pudina chutney.

Preparation Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time 5-10min.

Servings: 6 large servings

Ingredients required for Making Palak Ka Kapa:

• 1Bunch Palak (250 gm.)
• 15-20gm. Rice flour (wheat flour or Besan in the absence of rice flour)
• 1/2Teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1/2Tea spoon Red chili powder
• 2-3 Whole Red chilies
• Pinch Asafoetida
• 1/4Teaspoon Cumin seeds
• Salt to taste
• 5 ml. mustard oil or any cooking oil
• Water

Direction for Making Palak Ka Kapa:

• Clean Palak for any yellow and rotten leaves.
• Remove the root part from sprigs of Palak.
• Wash Cleaned palak in flowing water till water from washing comes out clean.
• Drain water by keeping the washed water in a sieve.
• Cut the cleaned, washed palak very fine.

Finely cut Palak (spinach)

• Take oil in a wok (if you have Iron wok then it is the best)and heat on high flame till smoking hot.
• Add cumin seeds and whole red chilies.
• Cumin seeds will splutter and red chilies will become dark in color quickly.
• Immediately add rice flour and asafoetida and cook toll the color of rice flour becomes light brown.

Rice flour shallow fried with spices in oil to brown color

• Add finely cut palak to it and mix nicely.

Palak added to the seasonings and rice flour mixture

•  Add salt, chili powder and turmeric powder. 

Turmeric, Salt and red chili powder added to the palak

• Mix and mash with the ladle.

Mixed and mashed

• Add 250ml. water and cook on high flame with regular stirring and mashing for 4-5 min.

Water added to palak

After cooking for 5 min. with mashing and stirring

• Cover and switch off the gas and let it cook in the heat it has retained.
• Remove in a serving bowl and serve with steaming hot boiled rice and Dal /Kadi  

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/03/kadi-thick-gravy-of-besan-in-curd-with.html

 Or Dubke 

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/dubke-thick-gravy-of-dal-paste-with.html Palak Ka Kapa

 Tips:

• Wash palak in flowing water as lots of water is required to remove all dirt and soil from it.
• Cut palak very thin and fine.
• Do not over cook palak other wise it will loose its beautiful green color and taste.
• Over cooking causes loss of nutrients present in it.
• Do not let the flour become very dark in color as it would change the color ot Kapa also give a burnt taste to it.
• When the oil is smoking hot immediately add the seasonings do not let the oil heating for long.
• Do not add asafoetida along with cumin and chili as the hot oil will cause evaporation of the essential oil in it which gives the flavor and has medicinal properties.

Suggested Variations:

• Mustard oil can be replaced by any other cooking oil of your choice but the typical Kumauni taste comes with mustard oil only.

• Rice flour can be replaced by Whole wheat flour or besan, but try to have preferably rice flour otherwise wheat flour besan should be last choice.

Tirangi Poori ( Deep fried Tri color Indian Bread)

Tirangi Puri

The color used in making the puris are not artificial but of vegetables!!! They look so attractive that by the time you have made them they will vanish into the stomach of your family!! They are also excellent to make for picnic basket / taking for traveling /lunch box of the children. So surprise your husband and children by keeping tricolor puri in their lunch box. Beware you will find jealous faces of ladies staring at you when you get the appreciation from their husband for the variation of food you pack for your family !!!


Preparation Time: 20 - 25 min.

Cooking Time: 15 – 20 min.

Servings: 20 – 25 Puri

                                                                    

Ingredients  Required  To Make Tirangi Puris:

• 250 gm. Whole Wheat Flour
• 100 gm. Spinach
• 25 gm ( one medium size ) red tomato
• 1/2  Tea spoon salt
• 5 – 10 ml. cooking oil to make dough
• 200 ml. cooking oil to fry
• Water to make dough.

Directions To Make Dough :

• Remove the stalks from spinach and wash the leaves.
• Boil 100 ml. water and put the spinach leaves in it for 2min. remove and immediately put in cold water.
• Grind the leaves with as little water as possible to a fine paste. Keep the paste aside.
• Wash and cut tomato to 1cm. pieces.
• Put the tomato pieces in grinder and make fine thick paste. Keep the paste aside.
• Take whole wheat flour in a bowl and add salt to it.
• Mix the salt and flour mixture nicely.
• Add 5ml. of oil and mix with your fingers.
• If required add rest of the oil and mix.
• The mixture should resemble bread crumbs. (The requirement of oil changes with different brands of wheat flour.)
• Divide the flour, oil salt mixture into 3 equal parts.
• To one part add the spinach paste in little proportions and knead to soft but firm dough, if required add water while making the dough.

Dough with Palak(Spinach) pulp

• To second part add the paste of tomato  in little proportions and knead to firm but soft dough.

Dough with Tomato Pulp

• If required add water while making the dough.
• To the third part add water in little proportions and knead to make soft but firm dough.

Plain dough

• Take all three (Green, Red, White) dough keep them one over the other and roll to a single long roll with soft hands.

Rolls of Plain dough, Dough with Tomato pulp, and dough with pulp of palak stacked to be rolled together

• The roll of dough will look tri colored.

Roll of tricolor dough

Directions To Make Tricolor Puris :

• Take 200ml. cooking oil in a wok and heat it on high flame.
• When smoking hot lower the flame.
• Cut the tricolor dough roll into 20 – 25 pieces and make balls of them.

Tri color dough roll ready for cutting to pieces for making balls

Roll cut to pieces for being made to balls

Ball from tricolor dough

• Oil the rolling board and rolling pin with few drops of oil.
• Place the ball of dough in the center and roll to a round of 6 – 8 cm.

Ball of tricolor dough(plain, with tomato pulp, and with palak)

Ball of Tricolor dough (plain, with tomato pulp, and palak) rolled for frying

• Put it in the hot oil and fry on both sides by turning once or twice.

Tirangi Puri being fried

Tirangi Puri being fried

Tirangi Puri with Palak, Tomato and plain dough

• Repeat with all ball of tri color dough. 

Tirangi Puri

  Tirangi Puris  are ready. These puris are very tasty and nourishing as they are having different vegetables in it. Tirangi puris go well with any vegetable / nonveg . Or simply serve them with chutney / pickle if you do not have time or energy to make vegetables to accompany them , nobody will complain. 

Tips:

• Roll the dough while making the tricolor roll with gentle hands so as they retain their identity in the single tricolor roll.
• For those who are not adept in rolling the puris , first roll them one by one and keep separated on a greased plate  / clean newspaper, then heat the oil and fry them .

Suggested  Variations:

• Beet root can be taken instead of tomatoes.
• Mixture of pulp of boiled beet root and raw tomato also can be used instead of pure tomato or pure beet root pulp.
• If you take beet root then wash it and boil it before making to pulp.
• Methi leaves can be taken int he place of palak but do not make paste of methi leaves, if you will make paste of methi leaves then it will leave bitterish taste in puri. 

Palak Puri/पालक की पूरी (Puffed Fried Indian Bread With Spinach)

Palak Puri

Palak Puri of dough with palak paste

Puris with Palak (Spinach), not only give them colorful appearance, but also give them taste and nourishment Vegetable puris are a nice way to develop taste of vegetables in kids. Keep methi puri

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/11/methi-puripuffed-fried-bread-with-methi.html ,

palak puri in the lunch box of children with pickles and they would love you. Make them when you have guests for lunch or dinner with colorful gravies guests will be amazed at your variation in cooking.

Preparation Time: 10min.

Cooking Time: 20min.

Servings: 20 - 25 Puri can be made from the material given below.

Ingredients Required To make Palak Puri

• 250gm. Whole Wheat Flour.
• 50gm. (one small bunch) Palak leaves.
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt.
• 10-15 ml. cooking oil.
• 100-150ml. Water to make dough.
• 200 ml. Cooking oil for frying.

Directions To Make Dough

• Clean Palak( spinach) leaves.
• Wash the Palak leaves and drain them.
• Cut the palak leaves finely.
• Take wheat flour in a bowl and add 5 ml. of oil and finely cut palak leaves and salt to it.
• Mix with your fingers.
• Add another 10 ml. of oil and mix nicely.
• The flour oil mixture should resemble bread crumbs.
• The requirement of oil changes with the quality of wheat flour.
• So if required then only add rest of the oil.
• Do not add too much oil; otherwise the puris will become too oily.
• Add water in little amounts and mix and knead.

Dough for Palak puri

• The dough should be soft but firm.

Directions To Make Puri

• Put 200ml. oil in a wok and keep the wok on gas, with the gas on high flame.
• Make small balls from the dough.

Ball of dough for Palak puri

• Oil the rolling board and rolling pin with few drops of oil.
• Keep the ball of dough in the center of rolling board and roll it to 8-10 cm. diameter round puri.

Rolled Palak puri

• When the oil is smoking hot reduce the flame.
• To the hot oil put the rolled puri from the side of the wok.

Palak puri being fried

• Fry it from both sides to golden color by turning it once or twice.

Palak puri fried to golden brown color on both sides

Palak puri is ready to be served. :)

Palak Puri

Enjoy the palak puri with chole

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2011/08/chole-aur-bhature.html

vegetables or pickles

http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/mango-pickle-north-indian-style.html , http://jyotsna-pant.blogspot.com/2012/06/tangy-mango-pickle-maharashra-style.html

      Tips:-

• Take only leaves of palak, leave the stems altogether.
• Add water in little amounts while making dough as requirement of water changes with different type of wheat flour.
• More you knead the dough softer it will become and puri will come out better.
• If you like you can add 1/2 spoon of red chili powder to make them spicy.
• Take care while putting rolled puri for frying, it should be put slowly from side otherwise hot oil may spill causing burns.
• For those who are not too adept at rolling, you can roll few puris and keep them separated on an oiled plate and then start frying them one by one.
• The oil should be very hot while frying otherwise puri will not puff.
• Maintain the temperature of oil by reducing/ increasing the flame.
• Palak puris  can be kept in a closed container for a day or two and eaten by warming in microwave or on flat iron plate(Tawa) over gas.

Suggested Variations:

• Dough for the puri can be made by adding paste of palak made by boiling palak leaves for a min. or so and grinding them to paste with little water, instead of finely cut palak.

Palak paste

Dough for Palak Puri with palak paste

• Some green chilies / coriander sprigs can be added to palak while making paste.It will make puri greener and chatpati.

Palak Puri of dough with Palak paste