December 22, 2012

Vaali bhaji palya - Basale soppina palya - Malabar spinach sabzi

Basale Soppina Palya in serving bowl
Vaali bhaji or basale soppina palya recipe - Malabar spinach is a leafy vegetable widely used in Coastal part of Karnataka.In this part, every house would normally have a climber plants of malabar spinach in the backyard. It is a creeper or climber and it grows very easily by planting a thick stalk. It is known with many names such as basale soppu in Kannada, mayalu in Marathi and vaali bhaji in Konkani. Malabar spinach has a cooling and refreshing effect, but the effect is less if it is cooked too long. Vaali Bhaji palya is a coconut based thick gravy prepared with malabar spinach, toor dal, fresh coconut and some other spices. 

It is a popular traditional vegetarian dish usually served as a side dish to rice ganji and steamed rice and pairs well with daali ambat and thove. This is an easy to prepare palya and my favorite dish. So, I thought to share the recipe with you all.

Vaali Bhaji Palya - Basale Soppina Palya
vaali bhaji randayi ready to sevre
Prep time : 20 mins
Cook time : 20 mins
Total time : 40 mins
Recipe type : Side Dish
Cuisine : Konkani
Yield : Serves 4  
Author : Vidya Chandrahas

Ingredients 
  • 1 bunch  malabar spinach / vaali bhaji / basale soppu
  • 1 cup cooked toor daal
  • 1 small sized onion (optional)
  • Salt to taste
Grind to paste 
  • 1 medium sized fresh coconut, grated
  • 7-8 dry red chilies ( preferably byadagi)
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1/4 tsp  turmeric powder
  • 7-8 garlic  cloves / lasun
For the tempering
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 8-10 curry leaves
  • 2 tsp oil
Method 
  1. Pluck the malabar spinach leaves from the stems. Remove the tender stems along with the leaves. Wash  them thoroughly. 
  2. Roughly chop malabar spinach leaves. Chop the stems into large pieces.
  3. Wash the  toor daal in a vessel,  Add 2 and 1/2 cups of water and pressure cook for 3 whistles. 
  4. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan on low flame. Fry coriander seeds till aromatic. Remove and keep it aside.
  5. In the same pan, fry  dry red chilies till  they  become crisp. Combine together the grated coconut, fried chilies, fried coriander seeds, garlic and  turmeric powder. 
  6. Put it in a mixer jar and grind to a slightly coarse paste. Keep it aside.
  7. Boil 2 glasses of water in a deep pan and add chopped malabar spnach stems. Cook covered on medium flame till they are 75% cooked. Then add the chopped leaves and chopped onions to it.
  8. Cook covered on low flame till the leaves become soft. When the stems and leaves are cooked, add cooked toor dal, coconut masala paste and salt. Add water to adjust the desired consistency.
  9. Bring it to boil and simmer, stirring occasionally over a medium flame until you get a thick gravy. The gravy should be  thick and have a  creamy consistency.
  10. Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
  11. Add curry leaves, saute for few seconds and pour this tempering  on  the boiling curry. Take a spoon and mix it very well.  
  12. Serve the vaali bhaji palya hot with steamed rice, rice kanji and chapathi.
vaali bhaji palya ready to sevre

20 comments:

  1. Sounds very delicious..Perfect with rice!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thick & creamy. Love this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yummy tempting curry..

    ReplyDelete
  4. healthy tasty and delicious curry.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This bhaji looks yum with flavourful masala.. will try it out ..

    ReplyDelete
  6. this greens in the curry looks so delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  7. looks xtremely delicious..Slurp

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds healthy n yummy !!! Nice recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  9. adding coconut masala is new to me. looks delicious

    ReplyDelete
  10. Could not make out what green is that, but curry looks yum!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Malabar spinach is my fav one. But this dal recipe is new to me, want to try soon. Looks very inviting.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Healthy and delicious...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Healthy n delicious dal.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gracias por sus buenos deseos ..Feliz Navidad,hugs,hugs.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Very interesting dish,healthy and fingerlicking.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is a great way to eat spinach!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visitng Akshaypatre. If you like my posts you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter. You can like Akshaypatre -Vidyas Recipes page on Facebook. You can also subscribe via email to get latest recipes free. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.