Popeye’s palak in new avatar

Pushpesh Pant

Palak is a wonderful thing! It is healthy, packed with goodness of green leafy vegetables and can be paired with meat, chicken, paneer or even potato. The problem is that the palate soon gets jaded and the heart pines for something new. Pakoras are tempting and so is patte ki chaat but the deep fried stuff is little bit scary. To cut a long story short, we were delighted to renew our acquaintance with a steamed incarnation of patorh at a cousin’s house recently. Here it is — the recipe with more than a little tampering! Purists may not approve but the real joy is in experimenting with the batter. You can give the ubiquitous besan a total miss and even replace the rice flour with husked moong batter like the one used for chila. Just ensure that after mixing the palak it should yield a dough of rolling-into-a-tube consistency. Serve with green mint chutney or tomato ketchup.

Ingredients

30-40 Spinach leaves (or a mix of palak and other seasonal greens)

2 potatoes (medium sized, boiled and mashed-optional)

1-1/2 tsp Amchur powder

3 Green chillies (chopped)

1 tbsp Ghee

Salt to taste

1tbsp Oil

For batter:

1/2 Cup rice flour

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 Cup gram flour

1/2 tsp Salt

Method: Wash and clean the spinach then shred coarsely or chop. Prepare a batter on medium thick consistency, more like a soft dough and mix the spinach leaves, mashed potatoes (if using), with chillies, amchur powder and salt. Roll into a ‘tube’ and steam for about 20 minutes. Cool and slice into roundels about half- inch thick. Line a non-stick pan with a film of oil and lightly pan grill tikiya in batches. Prepare a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves and pour over the tikiya placed in a bowl.