FLAVOURS

Lotus stem in Spinach curry

Today i had a few cousins over and one of the things I prepared for them was Lotus Stam (kamal kakdi) in Spinach curry (palak). They and never had it before and since they enjoyed it, I thought you may like to try it.
Here is what you do.

Ingredients:

250 gms Lotus stem
2 bundles spinach
2 green chillies
1 inch piece ginger
8 to 10 flakes of Garlic
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 small ball of tamarind(soaked in half a cup of warm water)
1 sp coriander powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
3 to 4 tbps oil
2 tsps wheat flour
salt to taste

Procedure:

Wash and scrape the lotus stem skin, till it is clean. cut into slices of 1/2 cm thickness. In a little water boil the lotus stem in a pressure cooker , just one whistle, turn off and keep aside. Separately steam the spinach for a 3 to 5 minutes in a pan and blend to a puree in a blender. Finely chop/ grind the ginger, garlic and green chillies. Heat oil in a kadai or pan ,add mustard seeds and allow to splutter.. Now add ginger garlic paste , reduce flame and stir for a minnute or two. Now put in the boiled lotus stem without any water). Saute for a minute or two on low flame, add coriander and chilli powder and saute for a couple of minutes more, Now add the spinach puree , stir for a couple of minutes. Now squeeze out the tamarind water and put it in. A minute or two later dissolve the wheat flour in a cup of water mixing it well. Add this to the spinach - lotus stem being cooked, add salt, cover and cook on low flame for about 10 minutes. Serve hot. This dish tastes best when it is had with the famous Mumbai pav (bread) and topped with fine bhel sev.