Spinach Tri-Colour Raita

Well!!!

Here I go with the same veggie- Spinach with a twist – TRICOLOUR RAITA

This time I have tried growing spinach in a pot full of coco peat (readily available) and some vermi-compost. I was forced to do this as, its rainy season, and small delicate, tender, young spinach seedlings and leaves cannot withstand the rain. And it is working!!! In fact now I am cribbing I should have potted spinach in a couple of more pots! Never mind—next time.

I mentioned last time about uprooting the plants—Now, I have learnt, just snipped the young tender leaves for my Spinach Raita. Here goes the recipe – forgive me for not giving this in an organized manner. I believe that- salads, raitas are from the heart and proportions, ingredients don’t really matter—until we stick to the basics!!

Spinach,Basil

Have some fresh tender spinach leaves with stems.

 Soak some dates ( for 20 mins), chop then bite size. Mix in a bowl some curd (fresh -- not—never sour), salt, sugar, pinch of black pepper. Give a try – add some cream (if you can do a sin of few calories). Else just forget it.

Add spinach and chopped dates. While mixing, take care, let tenderness of leaves remain. If you have herbs, fresh basil works good.

curd,basil,pepper

Add a tricolor twist to Raita – add some grated carrot /pieces of sweet orange / my personal favorite- pomegranate seeds. Chill this raita before serving. 

Enjoy....

Tricolour Raita

I was a small little girl again--- waiting for the seeds to turn into tiny little green. Each new leaf was a wonder. When I started to turn my thumb green , first word of advice was  Be patient !

" Patience" was NOT easy !! especially in these fast track days....Man!!!! --- any plant takes at few weeks to grow, then to flower and fruit.You bet ---- the books, science of growing,  anything of this sort does not stop you from peeping into the garden patch every morning.  I know I sound like ----- a small little girl- ya that is it! My experiments in gardening -made me an observer again - a silent observer.

After  shuffling through books; I decided on SPINACH as my first crop...may be second..Fenugreek / Methi just grows like that . Well, spinach was easy to grow , there was no hassle of  sunlight, direction etc. and we eat leaves, so waiting time is less--- Patience.. patience.
So, I dropped the seeds , they sprouted with itsy- bitsy leaves, lovely parrot green. In 10-12 days leaves turn oblong and grown bigger.

The site of green patch with these greens, inspired cook in me---no I was not impatient to taste my first crop, just the baby spinach tempted me for a spinach salad. I uprooted the plants , carefully one by one,each one was precious... cleaned, prepared baby spinach salad and presented proudly. Of course expecting complements on dinner table; I discussed spinach spinach and spinach, its fresh green colour, soft texture , organically grown nature --blah,blah blah..... and got one word response GOOD!

Okay!!!! Not bad.

Bad or worse was next. I came to know , one need not uproot spinach, just pluck stems-- one gets new leaves-- this can be done 3-4 times.
That's fine! I have fertilized new patch for another batch of spinach!!!!