When Mum came to visit for a fortnight about three years ago, we made a point of shopping at the Indian and Oriental grocery stores every other day, coming home and then cooking up a storm. She recited and I wrote down all the recipes we prepared in a notebook. This is a recipe from that notebook.
And here is a picture of the vegetables before prepping. The tomatoes were not used in this recipe; they are there for presentation only, for color contrast. :)
Ingredients:
Big bunch of pui shaak, chopped (aka Malabar/Indian spinach at Vietnamese stores)
1 russet potato, cubed
1/4 pumpkin, peeled and cubed
1 Oriental eggplant, cubed
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
2 whole dried red chillies
1/2 tsp. panch phoron (cumin,fenugreek,nigella,black mustard & fennel seeds)
2 tsp. ginger paste
1 tsp. roasted panch phoron, ground
1/4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. ghee
Directions:
- In 1 Tbsp. oil, fry eggplant cubes over medium-high heat until golden.
- Remove eggplant and set aside.
- In same saucepan, add remaining oil and sputter panch phoron seeds, chillies and bay leaves.
- Add potatoes, pumpkin and ginger paste and stir well.
- Cover and cook until vegetables are almost done.
- Add pui shaak, cover and cook until spinach is wilted and most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Return reserved eggplant to saucepan and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Sprinkle roasted panch phoron and sugar over top, and stir.
- Garnish with ghee, stir and remove from heat.
- Serve with hot, cooked Basmati rice.
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