Corn Palak. Curried corn and Greens. Seasonal greens, chard and spinach with corn and spices make for a quick side, taco filling or addition to a salad. Palak or Makai ki Subji. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. Pin it for later.
So I am still digging all the corn. Its easy, delicious and filling. It also is my sis’s favorite veggie :).
Between my mom and sis, who were avoiding most of the brassicas (cauliflower, cabbage etc) and soy for their thyroid issues, finding new veggie dishes for meals without repeating peppers, some gourds/squashes, peas, carrots, etc initially felt like a challenge (I mean no Cauliflower!!). It actually worked out quite well for the month everyone was at my place. We ate Indian food almost every single day for breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinner and everything was vegetable and legume heavy. As I always say, Indian food is a no brainer if you want to eat more veggies, more legumes, more plants in general. And super tasty! It comes at a price sometimes in terms of the spices and long processes used, but hey, we want to enjoy and love the food we eat. I mean literally look forward to eating some broccoli, greens, pulses, weird shaped bitter gourd (karela) and such.
This super easy corn and greens side comes together really quickly. The whole coriander seeds add an amazing zesty fresh flavor. I served this with any dal but prefer some the brown dals like Dal makhani or Sabut masoor (Brown Lentil Dal). Serve with any lentil Dahl, rice or flatbread. Or fill up a taco and top with chopped cucumber salad and avocado.
To read about how to apply for recipe testing for my second book, scroll to the end of this post.
When you cook any whole spices or seeds in oil to temper the oil, the spices will sizzle and move in the oil. On one of my videos someone asked me if they were some kind of worms, lol. Well there can be worms/insects in lentils and veggies, but not those. 🙂 . I remember once I asked mom about the floating worms in the Dal she made for dinner. Sometime in the 90s in India. She said it was cumin and I said nope. Turned out they were worms. Thats how we found out Mom needed glasses 😉 The really small ones can infest the lentils (esp more in a tropical environment), and make it into food if the lentils are not washed well.
Cook coriander seeds, onion and garlic until translucent.
Add corn, salt and spices and cook for a few minutes
Fold in the greens and water. Cook until wilted
Corn Palak - Curried Corn and Greens
Ingredients
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) coriander seeds coarsely crushed in a mortar pestle or spice grinder
- 1/2 cup (80 g) chopped onion
- 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic 3 to 4 cloves
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) red pepper flakes
- 1.5 cups (246 g) corn kernels thawed if frozen
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) garam masala or use curry powder of choice
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) paprika
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) black pepper
- 2 cups (80 g) chopped greens chard, baby spinach etc, mix in some fresh dill for variation
- 1/3 to 1/2 tsp salt
- cilantro and lemon juice for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add coarsely crushed coriander seeds and let them cook for a minute. (or use 1/2 tsp ground coriander and add at step 2). Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. 4 to 5 mins.
- Add the pepper flakes and corn and mix. Cook for 5 minutes. Add in the spices and cook for a minute.
- Add in chopped greens, salt and 2 -3 tbsp of water. cover and cook for 5 minutes. mix well, taste and adjust salt and heat. Continue to cook for another 4 to 5 minutes until greens are wilted and corn is cooked to preference. Garnish liberally with cilantro and a dash of lemon.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Testers!
Before you go, we are going to start testing for my second book! I am looking for Recipe Testers of all ages, experienced or not, who have cooked from the blog before and generally have a pantry that suits those recipes. The required number of Recipe Testers for the book has been reached! Thank you everyone!
What I am looking for in tester
- Ability to follow a recipe exactly as written.
- Willing to consume sugar, salt, oil. I use minimal oil in general. The recipe can be made without oil for the second go to compare with and without results. Most Recipes are gluten-free or have a GF option.
- Able to Note the times and servings.
- Able to offer helpful feedback – specific feed back on taste and texture, what you liked, didn’t like, with suggestions about what can be changed, not just that it was just ok or awful 🙂
- Detail oriented to catch recipe errors (missed ingredients or steps).
- Be able to test 15 or more recipes. The testing will hopefully wind down by December, or the latest by feb.
- I also need 2 to 3 volunteers, one to help convert the recipe ingredients to metric measurements, and one or two to calculate approx nutrition. Please let me know if you have done this before and if you have rates for it.
This year we might have discussions in a facebook group about the recipes. So please also be on facebook. This book is not an Indian cookbook. It has mixed cuisines like the blog.
To apply, please cook any 2 of the following recipes from the blog in the next 2 weeks. Send me a picture on email richahingle @ gmail . Applications closed for now.
- Lentil Frittata
- Lentil Walnut Burgers
- Chickpea Chilaquiles
- Banana Apple Bread
- Chickpea flour cookies
- Sweet and Sour Chickpeas
Happy Cooking!
Zanna
Genius 😀 looks so pretty on the plate with other things. I love the juicy crunch of sweetcorn with dal so I often cook it with the rice (sometimes adding a bit of millet too), but this way it makes an impressive side dish for only a little extra effort. I added a bit of diced zucchini I wanted to use up and that worked well too.
Ellen Lederman
This was so good. I have never associated corn with Indian food, but this works so beautifully. Great way to get some extra greens (I used spinach) as well. Simple to make, but full of flavor. Thanks!
Richa
I know right. There are so many easy veggie sides and stir fries i n Indian regional cuisines.
The Wooden Spoon
I love the combination of flavors in this recipe- it sounds amazing. Congrats on your book!
SUE
Richa, I am sooo excited to hear you’re working on another book. Woo hoo!! I’ve commeented on the first two recipes earlier, so I’ll make the others next week. Congrats on your new endeavor!
Richa
You can make just 1 recipe Sue, since I know you have made those recipes! This is just to make sure that whoever applies is serious and has time to schedule the cooking/testing. 🙂 . it is a time and effort commitment.
Janice
Oh! recipe testing sounds right up my alley! I’ve loved cooking from your book and blog.
As for the worms-in-lentils issue…. We were getting moths in the pantry and worms in dried beans and other dried items stored in there. Very yucky. Now when I bring these things home I stick them in the freezer for a couple of days before storing. This kills any worm or their eggs which might be present and prevents infestation.
(though my Dad would have said “a worm? just a little extra protein!” 🙂 )
Richa
This happened long long ago in India. We have large amounts of lentils stored. In India, Mom used to keep the lentils and beans out in the sun (it gets super hot), for a few days and then store them and they survived well without infestation. This one probably got infested because of a new batch of lentils or grains in the pantry which couldn’t be sun-ned in the winter.
Eve-Marie Williams
I would so love to be one of your testers! I’ll start cooking tonight… 🙂
Judy
Will try these. Always looking for vegan recipes and my husband being Indian will hopefully love them.
Johanna Woodbury
Okay, I’m excited to enter!
mia
Hi Richa, Congratulations on another book deal!! Will it be another Indian cook book? Or a different theme? I would be happy to test for you again, but I am not on Facebook so I won’t apply this time. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of testers as your first book was such a hit! But if you do end up needing more testers let me know. I can always test some recipes and send you my feedback if you don’t mind me not being in the FB group. Very best wishes to you for success with the new book. Love Mia xx
Richa
Hi Mia, I was going to mail all the old testers tomorrow 🙂 The test blog is the same format, so you can just give feedback there. I just wanted to have afacebook group for discussions and such :). so you can apply! the second book is all mixed cuisine like the blog.