Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A Spinach and Corn Dish Made So Fast You Won't Believe It!

 
   Anybody who's ever taken a car trip knows that there are always a couple of ways to go, the long way and the short way. In my world (the movies) that short cut usually leads to all sorts of interesting stuff, most of it scarey and sometimes involving a bumpy road and unstable dynamite. If scarey roads are your thing, have a blast..so to speak.

  However, there are other shortcuts which are a whole lot less dangerous and a million times easier. One of them is this spinach and corn dish which comes together so easily it's almost magic.
I made this for our lunch the other day and even though I took the long way around with fresh spinach and fresh corn, it was on the table in a half hour. If you want to use frozen vegetables, it's even faster. Here's what to do:


Spinach and Corn Curry




 Prepping the Spinach:
  Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. When it's boiling, toss in:
    I bag of fresh washed spinach, or 2 bunches of fresh spinach
  Blanch the spinach for 1 minute, then drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Set it aside to cool down.
  If using frozen spinach, skip all of this. Defrost the spinach.
 Take the spinach and put it in a food processor. Puree the spinach. Set it aside.

 Prepping the Corn:
  Husk, and wash 1 ear of fresh corn. Remove the kernels.
  Heat 1 Tbs of vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai.
  When the oil is warm, toss in the corn kernels and cook them lightly until they're tender. Pour them into a bowl and set them aside.

Everything Else:
 Finely chop 2 medium size red onions.
 Heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai. When the oil is hot toss in:
  The chopped red onions.

 When the onions are starting to turn a light brown add in:
  1 Tbs of shallot paste ( puree 1 large shallot in 1 Tbs of water.)
  2 seeded chopped fresh green chiles
  A 1 inch piece of fresh ginger julienned
 Stir it around, sauteing it for about 3 or four minutes until the ginger and chilies start to brown.
  Add in:
   1 pinch of turmeric
   1/4 tsp of amchur (dried mango powder) You can substitute lemon juice for this.
   1/2 tsp of Kashmiri chili or 1/4 tsp of cayenne mixed with 1/4 tsp of paprika
 Add in:
 The spinach,
 The corn,
 1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
Stir it well and add in:
 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, or if you wish to make this vegan, soy yogurt,
 1 tsp of garam masala
 1/4 tsp of dried fenugreek leaves. If you can't find them try using dried or fresh chopped celery leaves.
 Stir everything until it's warmed through and serve it up.
  This is an amazingly savory dish, good for both the Indian and non-Indian table. Backed up with a chappatti or a nice mustard seed rice, lunch is ready.
   A good friend of mine was injured in a horseback riding accident and so I'm going to be pitching in  with some of the other neighbors and bringing food to their house. Her husband's a vegetarian, she's gluten free. It should be interesting. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

3 comments :

  1. How absolutely wonderful (and super simple)!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you tried this dish as a sort of dip, like with chips or pita? It looks delicious and simple. It might be to thick however. Let me know what you think before I try it myself!

    Thanks,

    Rob from Texas

    ReplyDelete
  3. looks delicious kathy !! simple & easy :D

    ReplyDelete

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