Tropical Amaranth Cooked With Split Chickpea Lentils

Green leafy vegetables are very nutritious and provide most of the vitamins and minerals required for a healthy living. But children, who need all these nutrients and minerals, do not like the taste of normally cooked Green leafy vegetables.

In this recipe, I have cooked Tropical Amaranth (We call it as Sirukeerai in Tamil) with split chickpea lentils, which is very tasty and liked by children. This dish can be taken with rice, chapati and flat bread

Here I have made the dish with two freshly harvested bunches (about 500 grams) of Tropical Amaranth leaves, bought from the street vendors.

Step 1: Prepare the Green Leaves

• Separate the green leaves from the stems. The stems are a bit hard and do not taste good. They can be chopped into small pieces and used as chicken feed.
• After removing the stems you will have about 300 grams of green leaves.
• Rinse the leaves 2 to 3 times in clean water and keep aside

Step 2: Soak Split Chickpea Lentils

• Take about 100 grams (about 3/4 cup) of split chickpea lentils and soak in water for about 15 minutes
• Rinse the soaked lentils few times and drain our the water

Step 3: Add Water and Spices

We will pressure cook the lentils keeping them in a small vessel inside the cooker

• Transfer the soaked lentils to a suitable vessel which can fit inside the pressure cooker and add one cup of water to the lentils
• Add half a teaspoon of turmeric powder, half a teaspoon of Asafoetida powder and one teaspoon of Cumin seed powder

Step 4: Pressure-cook Lentils

• Add one cup of water in a pressure cooker and place the vessel with lentils inside over medium flame
• Once the water in the cooker starts boiling, place the lid and cook for about 10 minutes ( we want fully cooked lentils)
• Remove the cooker from stove and allow the pressure to drop to normal

Step 5: Remove Lentils From Pressure Cooker

• Once the pressure is normal, open the cooker and take out the vessel with cooked lentils

Step 6: Prepare Ingredients

Ingredients Required

• One medium sized onion
• 4 to 5 Garlic cloves
• 2 Dried Red chillies
• One teaspoon of Mustard seeds mixed with split Black gram lentils
• Salt to taste
• Two tablespoons of cooking oil

Prepare Ingredients

• Chop the onions in to small pieces and keep aside
• Shuck Garlic and chop into small pieces
• Break the Red chillies into two to three pieces

Step 7: Preparation Step 1

• Keep a flat bottomed frying pan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil
• Once oil is heated, add mustard seeds with split black gram lentils and dried red chilli pieces
• When mustard seeds start to crack, add chopped garlic and onions to the pan
• Stir-fry till onions are cooked to a golden brown

Step 8: Preparation Step 2

• Add the Amaranth leaves to the pan and mix well
• Close the pan with a lid and keep over medium flame
• Open the lid and turn over the contents from time to time
• Cook over medium flame till raw smell from the leaves disappear
• If required sprinkle little amount of water over the leaves for proper cooking

Step 9: Preparation Step 3

• Once the green leaves are properly done, add the pressure-cooked lentils to the pan
• Add salt to taste, mix well and keep over low flame till water content from lentils evaporate
• Transfer the dish from the pan to a serving bowl

This tasty Tropical Amaranth leaves cooked with split chickpea lentils can be served with Rice, Chapatis and Flat Bread. Children love the taste and do not leave it unconsumed in their plate