Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Marathi Usal with Sprouted Peas & Spinach

Sprouted Vatana (batani, peas) on a Spinach Leaf

Sreemathi Kamalabai Ogale, my authority on Maharashtrian vegetarian cuisine has written in Ruchira that usal can be prepared with fresh or rehydrated dried peas and also with sprouted ones. So, I reserved a cup of sprouted peas to try the usal recipe today. I couldn’t resist adding little bit of green – the fresh spinach from the local ritu bazaar. Two pretty and ordinary foods together became an extraordinary combination, all thanks to miracle like Marathi usal recipe. What a way to enjoy the sprouted peas!

Recipe:

1 teaspoon peanut oil
¼ tsp each – mustard seeds and asafetida
1 cup – yellow and green sprouted peas
1 bunch – fresh spinach, finely chopped
¼ tsp turmeric
2 tablespoons fresh coconut gratings, 4 green chillies and ¼tsp cumin
(blend to smooth paste)
Salt to taste or ¼ tsp

Heat peanut oil in a wide skillet.
Add and toast mustard seeds and asafetida.
When seeds start to pop, add the sprouted peas and reduce the heat to low.
Sprinkle handful of water, cover and steam-cook the peas to tender.
Add the chopped spinach.
Sprinkle turmeric, coconut-chilli-cumin ground paste.
Mix and cook until the spinach collapses. Season with salt and serve hot.


Sprouted Peas and Spinach Usal ~ A Fine Sidedish for Rice and Chapati

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Peas (whole),Spinach,Sprouts (Molakalu) (Tuesday July 24, 2007 at 9:05 pm- permalink)
Comments (20)

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20 comments for Marathi Usal with Sprouted Peas & Spinach »

  1. Great looking dish. We love yellow peas. Now, I have a couple of dishes to try with sprouted yellow peas. Also, I tried your paneer kadhi. It came out really well!!

    Comment by Sudha — July 24, 2007 @ 9:26 pm

  2. Hi Indra,
    I am blessed with baby girl,and I am back to watch your site.My routine is to open my computer in the morning and see what new dish today from Indra.
    WAV!Sprouted peas and spinach usal really a fantastic combination for rice.As I am here in shanghai China,these dishes just make me feel as if I am in my home town.My husband is fond of peas.
    Keep posting such recipes Indra.Fantastic photogrphy too.
    Hope you and mr.Vijay are enjoying at Seattle.
    wishesfrom,
    Rahila.

    Comment by rahila — July 24, 2007 @ 9:31 pm

  3. What a fantastic pic…

    Comment by sandeepa — July 24, 2007 @ 9:35 pm

  4. Sudha: I am glad to hear that you tried and liked the paneer kadhi recipe.
    If you try the sprouted peas recipes, let me know how you like them. Thanks.

    Dear Rahila: Congratulations on your new baby daughter and to the proud papa.
    It is great to hear from you and I hope you are having great time in Shanghai.
    My best wishes,
    -Indira

    Thanks Sandeepa.

    Comment by Indira — July 24, 2007 @ 9:44 pm

  5. u amaze me a lot wth ur pics and recipes. they r great. nice recipe.

    Comment by ramya — July 24, 2007 @ 9:51 pm

  6. hi
    Indira
    such great pictures…..
    Thanks for the recipe , i am a maharashtrian but i had never tried this usal especially sprouting the peas, i usually soak the peas overnight and make a rassa or wet bhaji in the morning with coconut gravy now this is a great thing to try. now let me ask you the white pea takes very long to cook ,and the green one is a bit faster so how did you balance the two
    did you not pressure cook them could you cook them on steam alone.
    i will be doing it soon so waiting eagerly for your reply

    Comment by mahek — July 24, 2007 @ 10:03 pm

  7. Indira, I havent tried this version.. thanks for the recipe and I tried the tomato pulusu and we simply loved it!

    Comment by Deepika Saripalli — July 24, 2007 @ 10:21 pm

  8. hmm..i like the addition of spinach to the Usal.I somehow knew you would make usal with the sprouted peas..telepathy!:)i loved the 1st photo.

    Comment by madhuli — July 24, 2007 @ 10:58 pm

  9. I have an array of recipes to try from this blog!

    Great recipes and pictures!

    Comment by kumudha — July 25, 2007 @ 6:34 am

  10. Hi Indira, another question vis a vis Tamilian recipes (like I had asked re
    pachadi a while back). Usal seems very similar to Tamilian sundal. What difference am I missing?
    Thanks
    Sudha

    Comment by Sudha — July 25, 2007 @ 7:03 am

  11. Indira, the first photo rivals that of an Anne Geddes infant photograph.

    Comment by terri — July 25, 2007 @ 10:18 am

  12. Looks resplendant with color Indira! Must be delicious.
    Cheers
    Latha

    Comment by Latha — July 25, 2007 @ 10:55 am

  13. Looks great Indira! Nutritious indeed. Thanks for sharing.

    Comment by Jyothi — July 25, 2007 @ 4:46 pm

  14. THUD!( Chandrika falling off her chair after looking at the picture!) :-)) Indira, is that a photo or a masterpiece?? WOW! Amazing!

    Comment by chandrika — July 25, 2007 @ 5:52 pm

  15. Indira, me again…thank you so much for taking it up with Eenadu. I really appreciate it.

    Comment by chandrika — July 25, 2007 @ 6:11 pm

  16. Thanks Ramya.

    Mahek: The vatana we get here are similar in size, see the sprouted peas photo. So, they cook at the same time. No need for separate timings.
    The method of cooking is completely your choice. If you prefer pressure-cooking, then that’s best way to cook peas. But don’t overcook, turn off after one whistle.
    Hope this helps.

    Hi Deepika: Tomato pulusu, my mom’s recipe doesn’t have ggc paste in it. It’s a different taste, hope you had good experience.

    Madhuli: Somehow I feel I owe you an apology. Sorry, I couldn’t participate in WBB. I feel terrible!

    Terri: Ms. Anni? That’s a great compliment. Thank you!:)

    Jyothi and Latha: Thanks and cheers.

    Chandrika: . 🙂
    About the Eenadu, I am glad to read that you got some reaction from them.

    Comment by Indira — July 25, 2007 @ 9:03 pm

  17. Wow! Another masterpiece! 🙂

    Indira, After your series of sprouts started, we’ve started having more sprouts at home. Your tri-dal sprouts usal is in my next to try list.

    Comment by Kay — July 26, 2007 @ 1:31 pm

  18. Indira

    Great recipe, simple, tasty and healthy. I regularly follow your blog, try almost everything you publish, tried this one and also the peas sprouts subji, both turned out really good.

    Keep up the good work

    Veena

    Hi Veena: Happy to hear that you tried and liked the sprouts recipes. Thanks for taking time to let me know.
    – Indira

    Comment by Veena — August 8, 2007 @ 7:14 am

  19. Indira, This one is very tasty. Just made this today to go with phulkas. very healthy and wholesome taste.. Will be cooking very often. 🙂 thanks Indira!

    Comment by Kay — August 24, 2007 @ 2:48 pm

  20. […] For our first installment in the indian food series, we have some Chicken Rogan Josh lined up, with some spinach and sprouted peas on the side. […]

    Pingback by Cocoa Loco NYC » Indian Food Weekly #1 — February 20, 2008 @ 1:28 pm

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