CHICKEN CURRY WITH SPINACH (VALCHE BAJI)

Chicken curry combined with Valche Baji or Spinach makes a delicious combo.   Basically spinach is a cooling vegetable and therefore blends well with chicken which is always believed to be heaty.  We can find lush green spinach during winter season, shortly after the rains with juicy stems.  The masala used in this curry is typical Mangalorean and this preparation goes well with the boiled rice or rotis. 

The spinach leaves must be hand picked and washed well and the leaves and the stems must be segregated.  The stems are cut into finger size pieces and cooked separately in little water.  The chicken and the chopped leaves are also cooked together using little water.  Once these are cooked combine the three main ingredients.

1 kg medium sized chicken pieces washed and drained.

Ingredients for the Masala:

• Kashmiri chillies -  8 nos.
• Coriander seeds   – 2 tspns
• Jeerah/cumin      – 1 tspn
• Pepper corns      – 1 tspn
• Fenugrekseeds     – ½ tspns
• Kuskus            - ½ tspn
• Cloves            - 3 pcs
• A small piece of cinnamon
• 1 big onion sliced
• 6 garlic flakes
• 1 cup of grated coconut

• Slightly roast all the above ingredients on a tawal.
• Add a marble sized tamarind and ½ tspn turmeric powder to the above.  
• Grind all the above to a fine paste using required quantity of water.  
• Combine the cooked chicken, and the spinach with stems in a cooking vessel.
• Add the ground masala with the masala water added to it. 
• Add salt to taste.
• Bring it a good boil.

 

For seasoning:

Fry until brown, a medium sized finely cut onion in 1 tblspn of oil.  Mix it to the curry and stir well.

A delicious curry is ready to be served with Brown rice or rotis.

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