Spinach Saboodhana Kichdi & Announcements

Announcements:
1)I am glad to inform my readers that I am the Chef Of the Week at erecipe.com. It's been fun to upload some of my recipes on their blog :) Here is the link to a video that they requested me to share on my blog - Click here to view Thank you Raquel for offering me this opportunity :)


2)IMPORTANT: MY BLOG GIVEAWAYS ARE STILL GOING ON!!! YES INDEED - So Please click here to get to the announcement page - Please ensure you follow all the rules of entry to be eligible for the prizes. 
Blog anniversary giveaways Sept 24- Oct 31, 2011 - so you are not too late to join :) Many of you have wondered if you have missed the deadline - and the answer is NO - there is still time

I have not cooked much with Saboodhna or tapioca pearls because the few occasions I’ve had it, it has always been really oily, be it as kichdi or vadas. The only right place in my mind for saboodhana is either as a vadam (vadagam) or in payasam! The further disincentive is no one in my family is particularly crazy about it either!

But I saw several saboodhana kichdi posts in the past several weeks and decided I must give this grain another fair chance!

Sadly to the best of my knowledge, tapioca per se has no health benefits – it is starchy and very high in calories, but this has somehow been a staple in Maharastra India as khicdi and vadas– while finding its way to the south in kheers and vadams!

So to add some nutritive value to it, I decided to cook it with spinach and it tasted really good :)

Add caption

Here is how I went about it

1cup of white peal Saboodhana (soaked for 4-6 hours)

1-12oz pack of frozen spinach (thawed) or 2 cups of fresh chopped spinach

¼ cup of peanuts (crushed)

2-3 green chilies

¼ cup grated coconut

Mustard, urad dal, asafetida to temper with in 1 tsp of oil

Salt to taste

Preparation

Drain the excess water from the soaked saboodhana

Put it in a pressure cooker and steam without putting the whistle

Wait a couple of minutes after it starts steaming loudly before putting off

This process considerably reduces the amount of oil used – This is one dish that, like eggplant or arbi, can soak up tons of oil

In a pan temper with 1tsp of oil mustards, urad dal and asafetida

Ad the green chilies and the thawed spinach and add into pan and stir fry for a minute or two

Now add the saboodhana and mix in well with the spinach

Add salt and stir in

In another pan, dry roast the grated coconuts and add to the kichdi

Open cook for a minute or two until all ingredients are absorbed into one another.

Garnish with the crushed peanuts and serve hot J

Spinach Saboodhana Kichdi & Announcements

Announcements:
1)I am glad to inform my readers that I am the Chef Of the Week at erecipe.com. It's been fun to upload some of my recipes on their blog :) Here is the link to a video that they requested me to share on my blog - Click here to view Thank you Raquel for offering me this opportunity :)


2)IMPORTANT: MY BLOG GIVEAWAYS ARE STILL GOING ON!!! YES INDEED - So Please click here to get to the announcement page - Please ensure you follow all the rules of entry to be eligible for the prizes. 
Blog anniversary giveaways Sept 24- Oct 31, 2011 - so you are not too late to join :) Many of you have wondered if you have missed the deadline - and the answer is NO - there is still time

I have not cooked much with Saboodhna or tapioca pearls because the few occasions I’ve had it, it has always been really oily, be it as kichdi or vadas. The only right place in my mind for saboodhana is either as a vadam (vadagam) or in payasam! The further disincentive is no one in my family is particularly crazy about it either!

But I saw several saboodhana kichdi posts in the past several weeks and decided I must give this grain another fair chance!

Sadly to the best of my knowledge, tapioca per se has no health benefits – it is starchy and very high in calories, but this has somehow been a staple in Maharastra India as khicdi and vadas– while finding its way to the south in kheers and vadams!

So to add some nutritive value to it, I decided to cook it with spinach and it tasted really good :)

Add caption

Here is how I went about it

1cup of white peal Saboodhana (soaked for 4-6 hours)

1-12oz pack of frozen spinach (thawed) or 2 cups of fresh chopped spinach

¼ cup of peanuts (crushed)

2-3 green chilies

¼ cup grated coconut

Mustard, urad dal, asafetida to temper with in 1 tsp of oil

Salt to taste

Preparation

Drain the excess water from the soaked saboodhana

Put it in a pressure cooker and steam without putting the whistle

Wait a couple of minutes after it starts steaming loudly before putting off

This process considerably reduces the amount of oil used – This is one dish that, like eggplant or arbi, can soak up tons of oil

In a pan temper with 1tsp of oil mustards, urad dal and asafetida

Ad the green chilies and the thawed spinach and add into pan and stir fry for a minute or two

Now add the saboodhana and mix in well with the spinach

Add salt and stir in

In another pan, dry roast the grated coconuts and add to the kichdi

Open cook for a minute or two until all ingredients are absorbed into one another.

Garnish with the crushed peanuts and serve hot J