Palak & Vegetables Ambat - Spinach & Vegetables in Coconut based Curry

Sometimes cooking for daily meals comes naturally to me.I have a glance inside my fridge and within 30 minutes,I am done cooking lunch.But sometimes,even cooking Dal seems like such a great effort.Times like these,I prepare one-pot meals or if I am even lazier,curd rice.


Last week,with my fridge loaded with fresh veggies and cleaned and chopped Palak leaves,I decided to make this ambat.Ma-in-law made this when we went to Bangalore and despite being the greens-disliker in the family,I relished the curry.Tastes great with rice and a simple upkari.


Ambat is a coconut based curry with a roasted onions garnish.




Palak and Vegetables Ambat


Ingredients


Palak leaves - a bunch,cleaned and roughly chopped
Toor dal - 1/3 cup
Onion - 1,cubed
Drumsticks - 2,chopped into 2' pieces
Carrots - 2,cubed
Cauliflower - 5-6 florets,chopped into halves
Salt to taste


Grind to a smooth paste


Freshly grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Byadgi red chillies - 6[if using normal red chillies use 3]
Tamarind - a small piece


For seasoning


Oil - 1 tbsp
Onions - 2 medium,chopped finely


Method


Pressure cook the toor dal,palak leaves and onion together for 3-4 whistles.
Once cool,open the cooker and mix everything together.Add the drumstick and carrots and cook till soft.
Add the cauliflower florets and cook till tender.
Mix in the ground masala and salt to taste and let the curry come to a boil.
Simmer and cook for another 5 minutes.
In another pan add oil and roast the onions till dark brown.
Add it to the boiling curry,switch off the flame.
Serve hot with Rice.


How did we like it - Despite being not very fond of greens,both of us relished the ambat.The flavor of Palak is not very dominating and I think that is the highlight of this simple curry.


Notes

• You can skip the palak leaves and make the ambat with mixed vegetables,which would taste as fine.But believe me,you cannot taste Palak in this ambat!
• If you are a palak leaves fan,you can skip the vegetables and make this only with Palak..so there!