Palak Papeto – Spinach Potato & Palak Papeta Par Edu – Egg on Spinach Potato

Two recipes in one post - Phunsukh Wangdu style.. Ek par ek.. free, free, free! 😄

At the very onset let me say, leafy vegetables, made Indian style, though absolutely delicious, make for terrible photographs. Also, this is simple home-cooked khana (food) hence no fancy plating; just a perfect recipe with a delicious outcome when remade in your kitchen. A recipe from my 'Back to the Basics' series. 

There was a time, approximately 32 years ago, when I got hitched *rolls eyes and tries to shut out the terrifying memory 😄* and moved to Pune. I’d already begun cooking long before I got married but at that time, green leafy vegetables were so not my thing. My in-laws, though, loved all vegetables. One day there was Palak to be cooked and for the life of me, I did not know how. That’s when mum-in-law came to my rescue. She taught me how to clean the palak leaves, wash and cut them and of course, how it was to be cooked. As I began cooking palak that day, the aroma of the vegetable hit me so hard, it had me drooling. I told my mum-in-law I’d give it a try that night, for dinner. Bas, woh din tha aur aj ka din hai, it’s my all-time favourite leafy vegetable. I keep giving twists to the base recipe taught by my mum-in-law; this one has potatoes in it. The credit for the base recipe goes to my mum-in-law, Perin!

Ingredients:

2 bunches palak (spinach), discard stem, wash and chop

2 large potatoes, peeled and diced

12 cloves of garlic (increase the quantity if the cloves are tiny), chopped fine

4 green chilies, or adjust as desired – chopped fine

2 large onions, chopped fine

¾ - 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

¾ + ½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt taste

Oil as required (I’m never stingy with it - evil grin)

Method:

1.    Heat oil in a wok. Add ¾ teaspoon turmeric powder and a wee bit of salt, sauté for a few seconds.

2.    Add the diced potatoes and toss well. Lower the heat, cover the wok and cook until potatoes are 75% cooked. Toss the potatoes intermittently, once or twice, while they are cooking.

3.    When the potatoes are cooked to 75% done-ness, remove them onto a plate and keep aside.

4.    Add more oil to the wok, if needed; heat it. Add cumin seeds and allow them to splutter.

5.    Add onions, green chilies, garlic and sauté until the onions turn soft, pink and translucent.

6.    Add ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and a wee bit of salt. Sauté for a few seconds.

7.    Add the washed-chopped palak and toss it well in the onion masala.

8.    Lower heat, cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

9.    Open the lid and give the wilted palak a good mix to ensure it’s well blended with the onion masala.

10. Add the potatoes, mix, cover and continue cooking on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

11. Uncover the wok, check for seasoning (add if needed) and allow the excess water from the palak to dry up. Do not dry it completely, though. Allow the vegetable to retain a wee bit of its juices.

12. Serve with dal and roti.





Palak Papeta Par Edu

Take this recipe a wee bit further if you have any leftovers or if you feel like turning this into an ‘eggetarian’ recipe. I had leftovers. I’d cooked 4 bunches of palak for this very reason (smart-alec grin).

1.    Put the cooked palak-papeto in a pan. Heat it well.

2.    Once it’s piping hot, flatten it out in the pan. 

3.    Break eggs into a bowl, season them with salt and pepper. 

4.    Beat the eggs and pour them evenly onto the piping hot palak-papeto.

 

5.    Cover and cook until eggs are cooked. The done-ness of the eggs is entirely up to you. I prefer them cooked but a tad soft from within.

 Chef Notes:

1.    The photographs you see have double the quantity of onions, etc., coz I cooked 4 bunches of palak.

2.    If you decide to cook plain palak sans the potatoes, please decrease the amount of garlic, chilies and turmeric powder.

3.    Please increase or decrease the quantity of green chilies depending on your palate.

4.    As mentioned, you may fry the potatoes, remove them to a plate and continue cooking the palak in the same wok. I was cooking the palak and potatoes simultaneously hence used two woks/pan.

5.    Please use large wok coz the raw-cut palak will seem a lot when added to the vessel. It will, of course, wilt completely once you cover and cook it.

6.    I don’t like my palak very dry but if you prefer it dry, simmer the vegetable a while longer to dry out the moisture.

7.    Important: When you reheat the leftover palak-papeto, please make sure it is piping hot. If the palak-papeto is not piping hot the eggs you pour over it will sink to the bottom. This goes for anything and everything you pour eggs over. The base has to be piping hot. 

8.     Beaten eggs work best for this recipe. Breaking whole eggs directly over the vegetable somehow does not work with regard to taste and texture. 

9.    You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Some more photographs:

See the slightly runny egg. That's how i like them.