Cheera thayir (spinach and yogurt) curry

Das writes: This is my mother's special recipe. She makes it when the whole family gets together. We normally use red spinach, but when I came to Britain I tried this variation using green English spinach, and, to my pleasure our customers liked it a lot. It is a refreshing combination.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 dried red chillies
10 curry leaves
a pinch of fenugreek
2 onions, finely chopped
3 fresh green chillies, slip lengthways
2.5cm /1 in ginger, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
150g/5oz spinach, trimmed
250g/9oz plain yogurt
salt


Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the mustard seeds and, as they begin to pop, add the garlic, dried red chillies, curry leaves and fenugreek. Cook, stirring frequently, over a medium heat, for 2 minutes, then add the onions, green chillies and ginger.

When the onion turns brown, add the tomatoes, turmeric and some salt. Mix thoroughly, then add the spinach and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the pan from the heat. Gradually add the yogurt, sitrring slowly and continuously. Return the pan to the heat for a further 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve lukewarm.

Recipe reproduced from The New Tastes of India , with the kind permission of Headline Book Publishing.

Recipe (c) Das Sreedharan
Photograph (c) Pete Cassidy

Other Recipes from the Book include:
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