Butter Beans with Spinach (Pavta-Palak): Recipes by Mridula Baljekar

Butter Beans with Spinach (Pavta-Palak)

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4

Each serving contains:Kcals: 170; g fat: 7; g saturated fat: 3

Ingredients:

2.5cm piece of cinnamon stick (dalchiniki dandi)

1 onion, finely chopped (bareek katehue pyaaz)

1 teaspoon Ginger Puree (adrak ki puree)

1-2 green chillies, seeded and finelychopped (chhile hue aur bareek kate huehari mirch)

½ teaspoon ground turmeric (peesihui haldi)

½ teaspoon chilli powder (mirch powder)

½ teaspoon Ground Roasted Cumin(bhune hue and peese hue jeere)

1 teaspoon Ground Roasted Coriander(bhune hue and peese hue dhaniye ke beej)

225g tomatoes, skinned and chopped, orcanned chopped tomatoes with their juice(chhile hue, and bareek kate hue tamatar)

1 teaspoon salt to taste (namak swaad anusaar)

250g spinach, finely chopped, or frozen leafspinach (bareek kate hue paalak)

400g can butter beans, drained and well rinsed(dhule hue beans)

75ml single cream substitute

75ml warm water (gunguna paani)

Method:

• In a non-stick saucepan, heat the oil over lowheat, then add the cinnamon stick and let itsizzle for 20-25 seconds. Add the onion, gingerpuree and green chillies. Increase the heatslightly and fry for 5-6 minutes, stirringregularly to ensure even cooking
• Stir in the turmeric, chilli powder, cuminand coriander. Cook for 30 seconds beforeadding the tomatoes. Continue to cook for4-5 minutes, stirring frequently
• Add the salt and spinach, and stir until thespinach wilts. Cover the pan and reduce theheat to low, then cook for 10 minutes
• Add the butter beans, cream substitute andwater. Re-cover and cook for a further 10minutes. Serve with any bread or Cumin-Coriander Rice

Spiced Pears (Masaledar Naspati)

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes, plus chilling

Serves: 6

Each serving contains:Kcals: 200; g fat: 3; g saturated fat: 1.8

Ingredients:

7.5cm piece of cinnamon stick, halved (dalchini ki dandi)

2 star anise (chakra phool)

4 tablespoons sugar (chini)

250ml low-fat fromage frais (cream cheese)

2 tablespoons rooh afza or 3 tablespoons rose-flavoured syrup (gulab syrup)

A few crystallized rose petals, to decorate (gulab ke pankhude)

Method:

• Peel, quarter and core the pears. Put them in saucepan and add the remaining ingredients,except the fromage frais and rooh afza. Cover and simmer gently until the pears are al dente
• Use a draining spoon to transfer the pears to a dish. Strain the strup into a small saucepanand boil until it is reduced to about 3 tablespoons. Spoon it over so the pears and allow to cool,then chill for 2 hours
• Mix the fromage frais and rooh afza together and spoon into a small serving dish so thatdiners can help themselves
• Arrange the pears in individual serving dishes and decorate with rose petals if wished