Palak Kadhi - Spinach in Spicy Buttermilk

Give an Indian anything and they will put "Tadka" or "Tempering" to it. Tadka pron-Tud-ka, is a process of add the basic spices to any dish. Items that go in a tadka are oil or ghee or butter which are the base, followed by cumin seeds or mustard seeds or both, and hing or asofoetida. Depending on the recipe, one can add garlic and ginger and green chilli or red chilli and methi or fenugreek seeds and curry leaves, etc.  This buttermilk dish is a perfect winter night dish to be savored with white rice. Enjoy!

Method and Ingredients:

2 handfuls of fresh spinach, washed, drained, chopped, and cooked*
1 cup low fat buttermilk
3/4 cup cold water
2 heaping tablespoons besan or gram flour dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water (make sure there are no lumps)
1 small garlic, chopped
1/2 inch ginger, chopped
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 small green chilli
Salt
Sugar

Tempering:
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Dash of Hing Asofoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric
Methi seeds (2)
Curry leaves (4)

1. Mix the buttermilk with the cold water and stir.
2. In a small blender, grind garlic, ginger, cilantro, and green chilli to fine paste. I added a little of the buttermilk mixture to get the paste going.
3. Add the water plus gram flour mixture to the buttermilk. 
4. Add the blended masala of garlic, ginger, cilantro, and green chilli to the buttermilk.
5. Heat ghee in a pot. Add the cumin seeds. When they sputter, add methi seeds, hing and turmeric and curry leaves. Keep the heat down so as to not burn the contents. The curry leaves should change the green color slightly.  Add the cooked spinach and stir well. Let cook for 5 minutes so the spices incorporate in the spinach.
6. Add the buttermilk mixture to the pot and stir well.  Let come to slight boil. Add salt and a small pinch of sugar. You can add the reserved spinach liquid while cooking. Some folks like their kadhi watery while others may like it thick. So add water according to your preference.

Serve hot over white rice.

* Cooking spinach:  I basically add the chopped palak to a pot of water and let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not add too much water because you can reserve the water in which the spinach is cooked for cooking.

* The besan or gram flour is available in indian grocery stores. Its basically ground chick pea flour that acts as a thickening agent.