It is customary here that kids are introduced to syllables of the first language on an auspicious day of Vijayadasami. They are taught to write the alphabets on this day. Similarly, grown-up children are encouraged to enrol themselves in a music, dance or other art school today. Now I do feel the same as I resume my blogging after a lull of quite a few months. I have shared a simple recipe for a rich and intriguing keerai masiyal which was served to us when we dined at a restaurant in Madurai, my home town, a few months ago before the onset of pandemic.
We usually serve keerai masiyal as a main dish like sambar, rasam or kuzhambu along with rice as shown below.
But this Chettinad style keerai masiyal tastes scrumptious even as an accompaniment, so we can serve this along with sambar or any other kuzhambu.
Generally we prepare keerai masiyal using bland leafy greens like arai keerai or other locally grown greens. Now I used yellow Bhringraj (manjal Karisalankanni keerai) to make this dish rich, creamy and palatable considering the medicinal values. Bhringraj is useful to treat common cold & cough but it is mainly used as a home remedy for treating jaundice (hepatitis).
Ayurvedic properties of Bhringraj:
| Taste (Rasa): | Bitter (tikta) & pungent (katu) |
| Qualities (Guna): | Light to digest (laghu) |
| Potency (Veerya): | Hot (ushna) |
| Action (Karma): | Balances Kapha & Vata dosha |
| Benefits: | Stimulates liver (pandunut), relieves cold & cough (kasahara), improves eye sight (chakshushya), useful for detoxification (vishagna) |
We can prepare creamy keerai masiyal or spicy keerai kootu by adding paruppu (dal) with Bhringraj to mask the bitter flavor.
Now let’s prepare Chettinad style keerai masiyal using karisalankanni keerai (Bhringraj):
Chettinad Keerai Masiyal Recipe:
Ingredients:
| Leafy greens | 1 large bundle |
| Green gram dal | 50 g |
| Green chillies | 2 |
| Salt | 3/4 tsp |
For tempering:
| Ghee (clarified butter) | 2 tbsp |
| Mustard seeds | 1 tsp |
| Split blackgram | 1 tsp |
| Shallots (chopped) | 13 |
| Garlic (chopped) | 9 cloves |
| Red chilli | 1 |
Keerai Masiyal Preparation:
- Pressure cook the dal and keep aside.
- Meanwhile wash the greens and steam them.
- When the greens reach the room temperature, blitz them along with green chillies, cooked dal & salt until creamy.
- Transfer keerai masiyal to a bowl.
- Prepare the tempering as shown below and add into keerai masiyal.
- Serve keerai masiyal with hot steaming rice.
Tips & Tweaks:
- We can follow the same recipe using any other leafy greens particularly the ones not liked by us as this recipe elevates even such greens to a whole new level.
- Usually I prefer to make keerai masiyal excessively so that I can use the same for dinner to prepare spinach paratha as well.
Ohhh how interesting….:)
Glad you like this recipe. Thanks a ton for reading my posts.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe.. looks delicious..💐
Pleasure is mine. 🙂
You have an awesome blog… I can see your interest. All are beautifully presented. Keep going. Please don’t forget to visit my blog as well.
Happy Blogging 🙂
Sure, will do. 🙂
Never tried with Bhringraj.. Looks delicious. Would try this recipe, Meghala 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
so glad to have you back!!! <3
🙂
Nice post… very informative and interesting.Thanks for sharing 🙂
Most welcome. 🙂
Glad you are back posting your lovely recipes!
http://www.motownsavvy.com
🙂
Good to see your post after a long time.. hope you are doing fine.. this looks delicious.. a new recipe for me.. sounds very nutritious too
Thanks much, Swati. 🙂
After a long time Megala, nice to see your post. Wow I have never heard about this கரிசலாங்கண்ணி. Seems a very healthy dish.
Yes, it is. Thanks so much.
Welcome back dear! Detailed recipe👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you. 🙂