Baby Spinach (Keerai) Sambar

It is sambar time again in Senthil’s Kitchen! In fact, my family (including me) are huge sambar fans. For some reason, if we could not eat sambar for even 3 days, we crave for it so much and I immediately make sambar to keep our tummies happy.

Sambar is such a versatile dish it can be enjoyed with rice, chapathi, idli, dosa, pongal, uppuma etc. We mostly enjoy vegetarian food at home, so sambar can be a good source of daily protein intake, and it is also a fun way to get all the benefits from the various spices and vegetables that go into the sambar!

For today’s spinach sambar recipe, I have used the washed and ready to eat baby spinach that is available from the grocery stores, but you can use any spinach you like, just the cooking times may slightly vary. Spinach sambar can pretty much be made following a normal sambar recipe (like my Kohlrabi or Noolkol Sambar) except for these two things: no curry leaves during tadka, and no coriander leaves garnish at the end!

Some of the other spinach varieties I use to make spinach sambar are methi, amaranth (thottakoora), malabar spinach, bathua, drumstick leaves (my most favorite), ponnaganni (another favorite), paruppu keerai, gongura (do not use tomatoes, generally I add a handful of gongura along with other spinach varieties), manathakkali (best spinach sambar!!!), mustard greens, kale, vallarai, water cress, etc. Lots of times, I also use combinations of 2 or 3 varieties and different combinations produce different tastes so you will never be bored!

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Baby Spinach (Keerai) Sambar

No matter how hard you try, you cannot go wrong with this Baby Spinach Sambar recipe. An easy to make dish is my family favorite, it can become yours too!!!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Baby Spinach, Dal, Keerai, Sambar, Spinach

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

• 3 cups Baby Spinach chopped
• 2 tbsp Sambar powder Sambar powder substitute given below
• Tamarind juice to taste

To pressure cook dal

• 1 cup Tool dal
• 1 Tomato
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Hing powder
• 1 tsp Sesame oil

For tadka

• 1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tbsp Methi seeds
• 1/2 tbsp Jeera seeds
• 1 Red chili
• 1 cup Onion (or shallots) sliced
• 1 Green chili sliced
• 1 cup Tomatoes chopped

Sambar powder substitute

• 1 tbsp Chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp Coriander powder

Instructions

1. Wash and chop the baby spinach (if it is not prewashed). If you do not have baby spinach, you can use any other type of spinach.

2. Wash and pressure cook dal for three whistles with 1 tomato, 4 cloves garlic, 1 tsp each turmeric powder, hing powder and sesame oil with three cups water.  Mash the dal and keep it separate.

3. On a big pot, heat oil and add mustard seeds.  When they splutter, add methi seeds and let them brown slightly.  Quickly add jeera seeds, and after few seconds, add 1 red chili and fry for some time.  Add sliced onion and green chili and fry well. Please note that it is not recommended to use curry leaves for spinach dal or sambar.

4. Add enough water, add chopped spinach, 2 tbsp. sambar powder, salt and mix well and cover and cook for about 5 mins. Drumstick leaves may take up to 20 mins to cook.

5. Add mashed dal to the pot, mix well, adjust salt level and cover and cook for another 5 mins.

6. Add tamarind juice and let it cook for another couple of mins.

7. There is no need to garnish with coriander leaves for spinach dal or sambar. Enjoy with hot rice, homemade ghee, a spicy side dish fry (Potato, Plantain or Suran) and a papad! This also goes well with chapathi.