Palak Sweetcorn Gravy | Zero Oil Recipe

Every day it’s almost a chore selecting the lunch or dinner items. I bug the husband until he gives his last opinion every day, and I end up cooking something that I have already decided 😀 I take this habit from my amma who as long as I have remembered discussed her lunch/dinner cooking options with me. Enough digression. Though I am a hardcore South-Indian, I cant deny my love for rotis. Infact unless our parents are with us, it’s chapathis or rotis for lunch at home. Every morning, I stand infront of the fridge looking at the various choices of vegetables I have. One such day, I had Palak/Spinach with me but no Paneer. As I always have my stock of sweetcorn, quickly this recipe was put together. Half way through, I thought why not make it completely oil-free, as an experiment. I was waiting with bated breath, as S tasted this during lunch and until the very end, he did not guess that this is a zero oil recipe. There – the success of this recipe!

There is yet another interesting story to this recipe. After cooking the Palak, onion and tomato – I had to grind them to a paste. As I was running short of time, I didn’t wait long enough for the mixture to cool down and immediately set it to grind. The next moment, the mixie jar flew out of the mixie and there was this palak onion tomato mixture all over the kitchen. Sigh. Thankfully the husband helped me cleaning most of the mess and also chased after the palak-wala for another bunch of palak. Lesson learnt – be careful while dealing with hot stuff 🙂

To prepare Palak Sweetcorn Gravy

Serves – 4

Time to prepare – 20mins

What I used –

• Palak/Spinach Leaves, 2 cups chopped
• Onion, 1 large
• Tomato, 1 large
• Sweetcorn Kernels, more than ½ cup
• Garlic Pods, 3-4
• Ginger Piece, 2” piece
• Green Chillies, 1 or 2
• Red Chilli Powder,1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder, ½ tsp
• Garam Masala Powder, ½ teaspoon (optional)
• Jeera Powder, ½ tsp
• Coriander Powder, ½ tsp
• Salt, as required

How I made –

1. In a pan, add roughly chopped palak/spinach leaves along with roughly chopped onion and tomato pieces. Add roughly chopped green chillies, peeled garlic pods and ginger slices.
2. Add salt and turmeric powder. Reduce the flame to low. Keep the pan covered.
3. Palak/Spinach leaves should leave enough water and that should be enough to cook everything. Keep cooking until all the water evaporates. By now, the onion and tomato pieces should be cooked too. If required additional water can be added.
4. Let this mixture cool completely. In a mixie jar, blend this into a smooth paste.
5. In the same pan, add this palak paste and add the sweetcorn too. Add some water.
6. Add red chilli powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and jeera powder. Keep cooking the gravy closed for 5-7mins. Sweetcorn should be cooked well.
7. Serve hot with rotis or phulkas or chapathis.

Note –

• If you want to use oil, after grinding the palak paste, heat oil in pan and add jeera. The rest of the procedure is the same.
• I made this paste quite smooth. Alternatively one can make a coarse paste too. If you don’t like the smooth consistency, chop all the vegetables finely – no need to grind.
• I did not add garam masala powder and that is optional as per preference.