- Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to:
[email protected]
Spinach is a wonderful green leafy vegetable often recognised as one of the functional foods for its wholesome nutrition, antioxidants, and anti-cancer composition.
Its tender crispy dark green leaves are one of the favourite ingredients for chefs around the world. This humble wonder food is commonly overlooked at the vegetable shelves of market while shopping, but the amount of essential vitamins and iron present in a small quantity is more than sufficient to meet out daily dietary requirements.
Spinach is thought to have come from Persia and is now cultivated across the world. Spinach is a seasonal vegetable available March to May and then again from September to November but can be easily found almost in all the season thanks to better logistics and greenhouses. Spinach is essential for our overall wellbeing because of its high iron content, which is essential for better blood circulation in our body.
Nutritional aspect
A 100 gm serving of spinach provides only 23 calories. Spinach is consumed fresh, frozen, steamed or quickly boiled. It is a rich source of vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Magnesium and — the most important — iron which is the reason why our hands get black while cutting spinach leaves with knife. A 180 gm serving of spinach contains 6 mg of iron. It is also a good source of fibre.
Storage
Spinach is best when bought fresh featuring dark green colour, vitality and crispiness. Avoid dull or wilted leaves, yellow discoloration or spots.
Fresh spinach can be easily stored in the refrigerator for about a week; however you should try to eat it at the earliest in order to get the maximum nutrition benefit. Spinach is sold loose, bunched, packaged fresh in bags, canned, or frozen. Before use, wash the leaves several times thoroughly in clean running water to remove any dust or soil. It is also advisable to rinse it with salt water to remove any traces of pests or insects.
Hara Bhara Seekh Kebab
Undoubtedly one of the most loved vegetarian kebabs in almost all Indian restaurants. Hara Bhara Seekh Kebab is one of the recipes many readers have requested me to share. It is a very simple and easy recipe with common ingredients and tastes superb.
The kebab is made with spinach bound together with mashed chana lentil, green peas and cottage cheese and flavoured with readily available spices and ingredients like ginger, garlic and green chilies.
Hara Bhara Seekh Kebab is great finger food for toddlers and kids, these crispy kebabs are so delicious, filling and healthy that you can serve these for breakfast too. Do try this recipe for fussy kids and toddlers — they will surely eat their dose of spinach and green peas this way.
Serves 4
Ingredients
Chana dal 1/3 cup
Spinach fresh 1 bunch
Potato, boiled 2 no
Ginger, chopped 1 tbsp
Garlic, chopped 1 tbsp
Green chilli, chopped 1 tsp
Green peas, boiled ½ cup
Chat masala 1 tsp
Garam masala ¼ tsp
Coriander leaves few sprigs
Salt to taste
Corn flour 2-3 tbsp
Butter 3 tbsp
Oil to deep fry (optional)
Method
Clean wash and soak chana dal for an hour.
Boil chana dal with ginger, garlic, green chilli, green peas, with 2 cup of water, do not add more water otherwise the kebab mixture will end up being wet.
Drain excess water and mash the mixture and keep aside.
Boil spinach and coriander and refresh in ice cold water; chop roughly and keep aside.
Boil the potato, mash and keep aside.
In a bowl combine all the ingredients and add the remaining spices.
Sprinkle corn flour to bind the mixture together.
Shape the prepared mixture on skewers and cook in tandoor or BBQ griller.
Baste with butter to colour and make the kebabs more flavoursome.
Once the kebab is cooked remove from skewer, sprinkle chat masala and serve hot with choice of dip.
Note: You can also cook the kebab on a greased griddle — either shallow fry or deep fry as per your choice.
Cooking tip of the week
When you boil the spinach, do not leave the spinach in hot water otherwise the spinach will discolour and turn black, instead dip the spinach immediately in ice cold water. You will see the spinach turn into vibrant bright green colour instantly which will enhance your final food preparation.
HEALTHY AND DELICIOUS: Hara Bhara Seekh Kebab.
