Ambat bhaji - another tanjore marathi twist

It's been a while since I did anything in my "corner" on Ahaar. And I know I haven't responded to the many kind comments we received for the very first post about thanjavur marathi food. But now that the semester is over, I hope to post more often and perhaps even dig up some interesting tidbits about thanjavur marathi cuisine.

To get things started again, here's a recipe for Pala Ambat Bhaji (Pala: greens; ambat: sour; bhaji: vegetable dish). The ambat comes from the use of tamarind and ambat bhaji is usually made with different kinds of greens or cabbage. And to liven things up, we fry a few mor milagai (see this) to go with the ambat bhaji.

Ambat bhaji makes for a nice variation from sambar and kootu. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 pack frozen chopped spinach
1 cup Toor dal
1/2 tspoon Tumeric powder
1/4 tspoon Methi seeds
pinch of Asafoetida
2 dry Red chillies
1 tspoon Cumin seeds (not required, but I like to)
Salt to taste
1 tbspoon Oil
3/4 - 1 tspoon Tamarind paste (depending on how tangy you want it)

Method:
Boil toor dal. In a pan, heat oil and temper with some cumin seeds, red chillies, and methi seeds (be careful to not heat the methi seeds too much or they turn bitter).

Add chopped spinach to this and cook with a little water till the raw smell of the greens is gone. To this, add tamarind juice and let this cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the boiled toor dal, salt, and let it cook for about 10-12 minutes on low-med heat.

Serve warm with rice.