Red amaranth is a very popular leafy vegetable that we get in the market here. It is in season now, so we go to any santhe(like a local farmer’s market) we can find this in abundance. Some people even get this to our door step. There are many varieties of tamdi (red) bhajji (leafy vegetable), some are bright red – where the gravies look almost like beetroot and some loose that color when cooked. Often, the farmers cut the portion outside the soil which is called modile(literally means cut) bhajji.
We prepare bhajji sasam, randayi, upkari (simple stir fry) etc with this. This ambat (gravy) can be prepared with spinach or malabar spinach (vali) also. We usually prepare the fritters(odi) during summer and they are used in such gravies throughout the year.
Ingredients:
3 -5 cups chopped red amaranth
1 cup fresh/frozen coconut
5-6 red chillies
1 tea spn mustard seeds
1/2 cup ashguard fritters/kulave odi
Oil
1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
Salt
Method:
Chop the stem and leafy part of the vegetable separately.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and fritters. Fry on a low flame till the fritters turn brown. Add the chopped stem and after cooking for sometime, add the leafy part.
Grind coconut, chillies and tamarind to a smooth paste.
Add this paste to the cooked amaranth. Add salt and cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve with chapatis or rice.
Serves : 4-5
Preparation time : 25mins
Varada, this is a favourite. We do not use fritters in the amaranth curry, so also tamarind. Coconut, chillies and cumin is the spicing for us. will try this too.
Cumin will give a interesting flavor too. I will try it sometime. Thanks Shri.
Hi !This red maath we Maharashtriyan cook as a sukhi paratun bhaji.My mother is no more .she used to grow this red bhaji in our Tata camps garden .she used to make raai hing haldi red dry chillies garlick in hot oil then add red bhaji suger and salt. last coconut to serve.I like your recipe also.Aayi world is so close to my heart and thats why I allways watch your recipes Thank you
My pachi makes that bhaji, love it. Thanks for reading AR.
Tambdi bhajji is my all time favorite and it is mainly found in konkan areas like karwar, In konkan people love this plant and also they have dedicated a song to the plant it is some thing like this
” Tambdi Bhajji lava lava, Aychan Shigmo(Holi Festival) Zhalo deva ”
🙂
Thats a wonderful song :), thanks for writing
What is actually ‘ashguard fritters’? Have you prepared them or are they in their original raw form?
Yes Dipti, we make them at home. I have updated the post with link to the recipe.
Hey Shilpa,
I do make these curries at home and back in India they used to come out this colour, but after coming to US, somehow am not finding the right red chillies. Could you just help me out with it. I just wanted to know which brand of red chillies to buy. My curries come out a little different colour. Thank you.
I bring byadagi chillies from India. I haven’t found them here in US yet. So when my stash from India gets over, I go back to colorless curries 🙁
If I don’t add fritters will it chnage the taste drastically
Geeta, Fritters give a very unique taste to this gravy. But you can make it without them, just add a seasoning of fried garlic