Basale Hashi (Malabar spinach curry)

Was talking to my aunt on phone & asked her about the dishes that could be prepared using basale. I knew how to prepare basale hashi, basale sambar but nothing more. She told me couple of more recipes, will publish them as soon as I prepare. Not only the recipes, I got very useful information from her. We get a lot of red spinach (kempu basale) here in Singapore. I never bothered to get them, she told me that there are umpteen medicinal values with kempu basale & also that it is not so easily available in South Canara, Karnataka. She told me that it is called bayi basale soppu (Bayi is a kannada word & its literal translation is "mouth"). It is a very effective medicine for mouth ulcers & has a cooling effect on the body.

Now, some general information about this soppu (leaves). It is a sticky vegetable like okra(bhindi), but the leaves are not so very sticy when compared to stem. The stem along with the leaves are used for sambar preparation, but for hashi, saasime.., some people only add the leaves (just to avoid the stickiness). I see the quality of the stem, if it is quite tender, I just chop it finely & add the stem also for hashi (as stem also has medicinal values....and I have paid for the stem too ;))



Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup finey chopped basale soppu ( only leaves or both stem & leaves)
1/2 cup curd/yogurt/mosaru
2 tbsp grated coconut (fresh/frozen)
1 green chilli
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp amchur powder/huli pudi
salt according to taste

For oggarane/tempering:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
a pinch of hing
1 red chilli

Method:

• Add the oil to a broad pan, when oil is hot, add the basale & fry them. Cook the basale in oil until soft (add very little water, if required).
• To remove the stickiness of the leaves, a little amchur powder & salt is added to the leaves while cooking.
• Make a fine paste of coconut & green chilli.
• Allow the basale to come down to normal room temperature & add the coconut paste, salt & curd. Mix them well.
• Prepare the tadka in a seperate pan, add oil, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add urad dal, red chilli, hing & add this tadka to the hashi prepared.
• Hashi is ready to be served. Tastes good with rice & rotti.

I had shared this recipe with my friend Lakshmi, she has published the recipe & a nice snap in her blog too.., you can see it here.