My website has been starving since 24 days and from past few days I’ve been looking into posting something here and then I draw back to attend another activity. Finally, now I’m sitting down, with hands on the work table and doing the most interesting activity of posting another recipe to my starving site ;)
I’m extremely delighted with the responses, comments and appreciations from my readers and friends who come into Food For Joy. Dear readers, Thank you so much for your kindness, love and support. Without you all coming in here and posting your comments and views, I think I’ll strongly miss something. Your visits will keep me galvanized. :)
There is still so much I need to do for this little food-site of mine. The day I’m not clicking, I spend some time in organizing the contents and pages of the site. Having a huge list of recipes to be posted, and having pictures banked up in folders which need to make their way out to FFJ, I’m doing my best to drudge and strike out everything on my list.
Of-course my other important commitments will be checked in regularly. On the other end my career might take a drift in two months or so. Thus my time will be cleaved. But I try not to make things look big. I just have to keep reminding myself not to burn daylight for any activity that is beside the point. Nevertheless, I like it when my hands are brimming with tasks that are yoked with my passions.
Today’s recipe is a marvelous spiced up rasam named Masoppu. Its a curry made by mixing green leafy vegetables of 3-4 varieties. “Masoppu” means crushed/ground leafy vegetables. Its spicy, tangy and chewy and I can just drink this like a soup. Vinay loves this dish a lot and I always see that he quietly relishes every mouthful of rice with it.
Masoppu (Cooked greens with lentils, tamarind and spices)
Masoppu is a Mysore/Mandya delicacy which is made from lentils (dal), tamarind and spiced up with rasam powder, coconut and onions. This is generally served with white rice, Raagi Mudde or you can also serve it as a side dish to chapatis/phulkas
Ingredients:
- Spinach (Palak) - 1.5 cups (Tighly held and finely chopped)
- Dill Leaves (Sabsige Soppu) - 1/2 cup (Tighly held and finely chopped)
- Mint Leaves (Pudina) - 1/2 cup (Loosely held and finely chopped)
- Fenugreek Leaves (Menthe Soppu) - 1/2 cup (Loosely held and finely chopped)
- Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
- Coconut - 1/2 cup (Loosely held and grated)
- Onions - 1 large (3 inch diameter and Coarsely Chopped)
- Green Chillies - 3
- Tomato - 1 medium (2 inch diameter)
- Tamarind - 1 inched sphere (Soaked in water for 1 hour)
- Water - 4.5 cups (1250 ml) + 4 tbsp for soaking tamarind
- Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Rasam Powder - 1 tbsp
- Jaggery - 1 tsp (Powdered)
- Table Salt - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp = (Approx.) 4 tsp
- Seasoning
- Vegetable Oil - 1 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Curry Leaves - 1/2 tsp
- Asafetida (Hing) - 1/4 tsp
Instructions:
Step 1: Cook the toor dal, tomato, greens with turmeric powder in a pressure cooker with 1.25 litres (1250 ml) of water for 10 minutes. (The time to cook depends on your pressure cooker. Mine took about 10 minutes to cook and 10 minutes to cool down.)
Step 2: In the mean time soak tamarind in about 4 tbsp of water and keep aside.
Step 3: Grind the onions, green chillies and coconut in a blender into a fine paste.
Step 4: Once the contents of the pressure cooker is ready, strain the greens mixture into a colander or strainer and save the green water for using it in the recipe. REMEMBER: Do NOT throw away the green water that comes from straining. We need to use this in the later part of the recipe.
Step 5: This residue that you see above should be blended into a fine paste as shown below. Note: If your blender is too tiny, you can always prepare the paste in batches.
Step 6: Extract the water from the soaked tamarind. In a vessel, mix tamarind water, green paste with the {coconut + onion + green chilly} paste that you had prepared priorly and jaggery. Mix well and heat it on a medium flame. Bring it to a boil. Once this mixture begins to boil, simmer the flame, add the green water that you had saved priorly. Again boil this mixture on a high flame.
Step 7: Simmer the flame. Add rasam powder and salt to this mixture.
Step 8: Mix well, let this mixture cook for 10 minutes covered with a lid.
Step 9: After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, prepare the seasoning by heating oil. Add mustard seeds, asafetida and curry leaves. Wait till the mustard leaves stop popping. Add this seasoning to the prepared curry. Serve with white rice, Raagi Mudde or chapatis/phulkas.
Some quick Notes:
1.This dish tastes best when you have about 3 to 4 different varieties of greens. You can add more if you would love to. But remember to balance the flavors of spice, salt and tamarind when you add more greens and dal.
2.Just for your information I would love to convey that this dish releases out its complete flavor after about 4-5 hours of preparation. Nevertheless, you can serve this dish immediately after the preparation as well. Not an issue.
From the people…