Hello 🙂
I’ve been increasing Green leafy veges in my diet since a year. Leafy veges are called Soppu in Bangalore. In Bangalore I’ve heard of so many different varieties of Soppu’s or greens. I am yet to try all of them. I am experimenting with different soppu’s each week 🙂 . They are all yum and so full of nutrients. I usually end up adding them to smoothies, in Dal/sambar and sometimes saute them for a side dish with my meals. It takes quite an effort to get them all cleaned up for cooking 😀 but its all worth it. Its the only time consuming step in this dish. Eating greens makes me so happy. Happy just thinking that I am eating healthy. Makes me feel closer to nature 🙂
I just wanted to change things a bit with the way I use the greens and that led to this recipe. You can use any greens/soppu you like in this dish – Palak , Harve – Amaranth , Chilkarve, Dantu (so many varieties!) and maybe even try combining a few of them. I tried this with Proso Millet. Any other Millets or rice could be used for this salad. Another thing you can experiment with is the proportion of rice & greens and make this as a light salad with more greens or a fuller meal with more grains! I add a lot of coconut because i love it 🙂 and it makes the dish smoother to eat with all the natural oils of coconut.
Ingredients
2-3 Cups chopped Amaranth leaves(keep the tender portion of stems)
3/4-1 Cup Proso Millets
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
2 Dry Red Chilli
6-8 Garlic Cloves minced
1/2 Cup Grated Coconut
3 Tbs Tbs Cashews Split in Halves
3 Tbs Coconut Oil / Vegetable cooking oil
Salt to taste
Steps
1. Cook Your grain of choice- Any Millet / Rice with in water with a bit of salt.
See that the grains are not overcooked to the point they get sticky. Cook till the
point each grain is seperate. I prefer to cook in an open vessel. Once cooked,
spread on a large plate and allow to cool down.
2. Wash the greens thoroughly a couple of times to lose the dirt. Soak in water for
sometime to loosen the dirt if its too much. Once fully cleaned drain the water and
chop the leaves to medium size. (A rough chopping is good enough)
3. Heat 2 Tbs Oil in Kadai. Add the Mustard seeds. Once they start to sputter add
dry Red Chilies and saute. Add the minced garlic and greens and stir fry for a few seconds.
4. Add salt to the greens and mix. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes on low
flame till the greens are cooked. Use your judgement and cook the leaves to the point you like. Stir in between.
5. After ten minutes switch off the stove to stop cooking the greens. Remove the
contents of the pan onto the plate with cooked millets. Add grated coconut to the
mix. Mix everything together with hands and combine to a uniform mixture. Check salt and add more if needed
6. In little oil, fry the cashews and add on top of the salad before serving 🙂
Enjoy your healthy greens in this new interesting way !! 🙂
THE VEGAN BIRDIE 