Chaulai Saag with Moong Dal – Amaranth Leaves Lentil Curry).

Vegetables with green leaves are very good for health. Chaulai or Amarnath  means longevity. If you eat its leaves everyday with your food then it gives your body the vitamins it lacks to quite an extent.

Chaulai is also known Amaranth, Red Spinach, Lal sag, Rajgira saag, Chuamarsa, Ganhar, Kalgaghasa or Thotakura. It can be prepared in various ways, for ex: dal can be added to Chaulai leaves and made as Saag, Chaulai can also be mixed with potatoes and made as Chaulai Aloo Bhujiya, it can also be mixed with brinjal and prepared into Chaulai Brinjal Bhaji.

• इस रेसीपी को हिन्दी में पढिये - Amaranth Leaves Lentil Curry Recipe in Hindi

It  can be mixed with the vegetable of your choice to prepare a dish. Chaulai leaves mixed with Moong dal makes a very tasty combination. In some houses people use Tur dal in place of Moong dal.

So lets prepare Chaulai Saag with Moong Dal - Amaranth Leaves Lentil Curry).

- Ingredients for Chaulai Saag with Moong Dal

• Chaulai/Amaranth Leaves - 250 grams
• Moong dal - 100 grams (1 small bowl)
• Salt - add to taste (1 tsp)
• Tomatoes - 2
• Green chilli - 2
• Ginger - 1 inch long piece
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Heeng(asafoetida) - 1 to 2 pinch
• Jeera(cumin seeds) - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Red chilli powder - less than 1/4 tsp
• Green coriander - 1 tbsp

Remove the fat stems from the Chaulai leaves, clean any extra grass and other weeds. Wash the leaves 2-3 times with clean water. Place the them in a strainer to drain any water that is remaining. Finely chop the leaves.

Wash Moong dal with clean water, put dal and Chaulai in a cooker. Pour 4 times more water than the amount of dal then add salt. Close the lid and cook dal and Chaulai till 1 whistle goes off.

If you don't prefer much of spices then the dal can be prepared by putting Tadka of Heeng and Jeera. Else you can follow the method given here.

Make a fine paste of tomatoes, green chilli and ginger. Pour Ghee in a pan(kadhai) and heat. Put Heeng and Jeera in hot Ghee, after Jeera is fried add turmeric powder and tomato, green chilli paste. Fry these spices till the spices seem granular or the Ghee floats over them. Then add red chilli powder. Open the cooker and check if the dal is thin or thick in texture then add water till dal turns to your desired density. Now add the fried spices to the dal, taste the dal and add salt respectively, also put in green coriander.

Chaulai dal is ready, take it out in a bowl. Serve hot Chaulai dal with chapati, naan or rice and eat.

Instead of putting tomato, ginger paste in the dal you can put Tadka of Heeng and Jeera which also makes the dal very delicious.

Chaulai besan curry

You can gram flour(besan) in place of Moong dal while preparing Chaulai.

Pour 1 tbsp oil in a pan and heat, put Heeng and Jeera in hot oil. Once Jeera is fried add turmeric powder, ginger, green chilli-tomato paste and fry all of the spices. Now put the chopped Chaulai leaves, cover the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes. Dissolve 2 tbsp gram flour in 1/2 cup water, mix this dissolved gram flour in 2 glasses water and stir till it comes to boil. Cook the vegetable for 8-10 minutes on a low flame. Chaulai Besan curry is ready.

Take out the Chaulai Besan curry in a bowl, garnish with green coriander. Serve steaming hot Chaulai Besan curry with chapati, naan or rice and enjoy.

Onion or garlic Tadka can also be put to the curry prepared in the above given methods.