April 4, 2016
Our happiness and excitement level was as high as the sky. Reason: My parents were coming over to our house for the first time. Well, it was a big deal for us, especially me. We would be seeing them in person after a whole year. Therefore, we decided to cook a special dinner to welcome them.
We commenced by discussing our menu options. Beginning with shahi paneer, moving on to chole bature, next arrived dal makhani, followed by Manchurian on our list. After a lot of deliberation, we concluded on preparing Corn and tofu dipped in Creamy Spinach-Tomato gravy accompanied by Rotis, Papad, and Rice. For simplification, we can call it corn-tofu-palak gravy or sabzi. We chose this one because my parents had never tasted this recipe. My mother has never made it. She usually cooks paneer in spinach-tomato gravy, popularly called palak paneer. Her palak paneer is unbeatable, tastier than the restaurants’. So I took her recipe for the spinach-tomato gravy, tweaked it a bit and replaced paneer with tofu and corn.
Corn and Tofu dipped in Creamy Spinach-Tomato Gravy
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Ingredients
- 1 bunch of fresh spinach leaves or 500 g spinach
- 250g tofu cut into large pieces
- 1 cup corn, boiled
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 tomato finely chopped or grated
- 2 small green chilies finely chopped
- 2 tbsp yogurt/sour cream
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 and 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- Pinch of asafoetida (Hing)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat water in a pan till it starts boiling. Add spinach leaves. Boil for 5-10 minutes and switch off the burner. Tip: Always boil spinach open in a pan, never in a pressure cooker. This makes sure you get a green gravy and all harmful compounds of spinach fly away.
- Drain the spinach using a sieve and grind it into a paste without adding water.
- Heat oil in a pan. Use medium heats throughout the process. Add asafoetida, cumin seeds and coriander seeds
- When the seeds start crackling add ginger and garlic, saute till they turn brown or golden. Approx. 1 minutes.
- Add onion and saute till it turns golden brown. Approx. 5 minutes.
- Add tomato and cover the pan with a lid. Saute till the tomatoes and onion mix well in a paste or tomato becomes soft and starts oozing out oil. Takes approx. 2 minutes.
- Add spinach paste and yogurt or sour cream and mix well. Tip: I prefer sour cream, it gives the gravy a rich creamy flavor. When I am out of sour cream, I add yogurt and 1 tbsp milk to give the same effect.
- Now we add the chili powder, green chilies, salt, coriander powder, and garam masala and mix well. Mix in one or more cups of hot water depending on how liquidy you like your gravy and cover the lid for two minutes.
- Next, uncover the pan, bring the gravy to a boil. Keep on stirring in between. Do this for around ten minutes. Do not cook on high heat.
- Add tofu and corn and mix well. Keep the gravy on medium heat for next 10 minutes or till the gravy thickens a bit. Tip: You can add paneer or boiled potato or tofu or corn alone at this time to make an altogether different dish, which will taste equally awesome.
- After 10 minutes, serve hot with roti or rice.
Tofu absorbs the taste of the gravy. The sweetness of corn, along with sourness of tomato and sour cream or yogurt, masks well the slightly bitter taste of spinach, making the dish taste slightly sweet and creamy.
This dish is not only delectable and delicious but also a healthy one. You receive a significant amount of iron, vitamins, calcium, and other minerals from spinach alone, plus fiber from corn and overload of different proteins from tofu and spinach combined.
Moving back to my parent’s arrival. I finished preparing the meal by evening. Thereafter we went to receive my parents from the airport. I served them tea and then dinner. They were surprised that dinner was ready. I reheated corn-tofu-palak gravy and served with fresh roti and rice.
My parents enjoyed it. My husband loves it. I often make it. Do cook and enjoy this one.
