Spinach and Black eyed peas Thoran

Spinach and black eyed peas thoran

Growing up we all are told of how important it is to add greens to your diet, now being a mom  to two boys the responsibility of adding the greens to the daily cuisine has been passed on to my shoulders. As hard as It can be I have learnt that with kids you have to be creative , surprisingly my older son is  interested in the kitchen usually will come by to check on what's for dinner try to help if he can, ask about how I made the dish which is a good sign . 
So it is sometimes easy to slip in the greens to their plate without a meltdown  :)

Recently I joined the health nutrition programme where a nutritionist calls me every 4 weeks to help me get on the right track , not that I was on the wrong track but now a days insurance companies have decided to take some responsibility to share the burden of the unhealthy nation so it does not come back to bite them. A step in the right direction .

So I decided to choose the nutrition path , Stories aside I decided to incorporate a vegetable in  every day instead of 3 times a week  , at least one veggie a day Hurray :) so this is the result .

Lets see how far I can take this.

With this thoran U can make Spinach by itself but it can sometimes be too leafy , I prefer a little added bit of peas  I just added some black eyed peas for more texture and flavor .

NOW for the recipe

What U need :

Spinach - 2 cups finely chopped

Black eyes peas - 1/2 cup cooked usually found in the frozen aisle

Shallots - 2 finely chopped

Ginger- 1/2 inch chopped

Garlic 3 cloves chopped

Green chillies- 3-4 chopped

Coconut grated  - 1/2 cup

Curry leaves a few optional

Salt to taste

Olive oil- 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon

Red chillies optional

Heat  a pan add the oil after the oil heats up add the mustard seeds , they begin to pop in few mins add the chopped shallots and dried whole chillies , curry leaves, saute for some time.

Add chopped ginger and garlic with the green chillies toast this for few mins than add the black eyes peas is they are not cooked thoroughly add some water in a cup and microwave for 3-4 mins before adding to the pan . Add salt and coconut and then last add the spinach. the spinach cooks pretty quickly so hence is added last. 
Cover the dish for a few mins till the peas are well cooked and the spinach is all welted down .

Serve with rice or Rotis.

Njoy !