Our grocery store offers a variety of fresh greens year-round, and I often find myself purchasing at least two different types each week. These leafy green vegetables are packed with nutritional value, rich in antioxidants, and excellent sources of iron and calcium. However, their short shelf life means they need to be used quickly.
This recipe is perfect for using up an abundance of greens. It’s a quick fix and doesn’t require much attention. The most time-consuming part is thoroughly cleaning the greens. Keep in mind that they wilt easily when cooking, so they cook quickly.
In Kannada, greens are referred to as “Soppu,” a generic term that can refer to any type of greens such as spinach, kale, Malabar spinach, fenugreek, etc., and “palya” means dry fry. You can use any greens you like for this recipe. It pairs well with Rotis and Rice.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chana daal/Bengal gram daal
- 4 cups of packed greens ( I used spinach leaves + Kale leaves+ collard greens) cleaned & chopped [use any greens of choice]
- 2-3 green chillies (slit or make a paste)
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 ripe tomato ( chopped)
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 2-3 garlic pods (peeled & crushed )
- Salt to taste
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup shredded coconut (optional)
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 2-3 Curry leaves
Method:
- Wash the chaan dal in enough water and soak it for about 1-2 hours. After that cook it on the stove with water, making sure there is still a bite to it.
- Take a large pan and heat some oil. Add mustard seeds and when it splutters add the curry leaves, green chillies, grated ginger and crushed garlic.
- After the garlic has turned light brown add the chopped onion and cook. Stir in the chopped tomato, salt and cook.
- Add the chopped greens and stir frequently. The greens wilt pretty fast and do not take long time to cook. Add the cooked chana daal and salt and stir again.
- Finally add the juice of lemon and the shredded coconut.
This serves as a great accompaniment with rotis and or daal rice.
so true about the shelf life. for that reason, i only buy greens on a friday or saturday so i have time for the cleaning and cooking part.
Delicious greens stir fry….the presentation is awesome:) I have to make a note to combine the greens as u have done:))
Reva
I love soppina palyas….they taste really good either wid rice or roti…I use almost all greens and I vary the dals according to my choice…like some times toor dal,chana dal n moong dal..everyhing tastes good..:)nice greeny looking green palya..
Such a simple and healthy recipe! Love the greens..Kale and collard is hard to get here..spinach will make do 🙂
Healthy stir fry, would love to have simply with rice..
Healthy flavourful and simple curry
Healthy and simple. Good way to use up a lot of greens as u had mentioned.
Vardhini
VardhinisKitchen
Love this combo of greens and chana dal, great pic.
healthy and delicious palyada suppu.please let me know in kannada kale leaves and collard leaves.i know palak,please tell me in kannada name.we use tuvar dal to make greens stir fry.
Thanks Malini. Unfortunately I was not able to find the Kannada names for Kale and Collard leaves. I have included pictures of them in my post. Sorry! Adding Tuvar daal is a good idea.
looks delicious and also healthy too …….