Search engine Google's “Year in Search 2021” is a summary of the top Google searches or Google Trends of the current year that reveal about the most searched questions, the people who inspired us the most and the most captivating moments that captured the world’s attention this year. In its annual 'Year In Search' report this year, it was found that Indians searched for and set trending Palak recipes in 2021.
As the winter green is a healthy source of vitamins and minerals for both vegetarians and non vegetarians, here are some popular spinach recipes that Popeye would totally approve. Apart from being cheap and easy to prepare if not served raw, spinach is known to contain 28.1 milligrams of vitamin C in a 100-gram serving as per the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Since it is high in fiber and water, it promotes a healthy digestive tract by preventing constipation. The leaves of spinach are also rich in protein, iron, vitamins and minerals.
The vitamin A in it moisturises the skin and hair while the vitamin C in it provides structure to skin and hair and the iron content keeps hair loss at bay. It not only helps in managing diabetes and preventing cancer but also helps prevent asthma and lowers blood pressure.
It could reduce the risk of oxidative stress while the vitamin K in spinach is very good for bone health and the vegetable in general is “a glowing skin tonic” for everyone. Check out some off-beat and some popular Indian palak or spinach recipes below and thank us later.
1. Spinach and ‘ricotta’ ravioli:
Ingredients for dough:
150g plain flour
150g semolina
130ml warm water
1/2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
Ingredients for spinach and ‘ricotta’ filling:
100g firm tofu
70g cream cheese
150g spinach
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp vegan pesto
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp mixed herbs
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
Ingredients for serving:
Fresh rosemary and basil
Toasted pine nuts
Olive oil
Method:
Start by mixing the flour, semolina and salt. Stir together, add in the water and oil and knead in to a dough. Place on a floured surface and continue kneading. Wrap the dough ball in some cling film and leave it in the fridge for an hour.
Meanwhile start on the filling by adding some oil to a pan, crumbling in the tofu and adding the garlic, mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Take off the heat then add in the cream cheese, nutritional yeast, onion powder and pesto.
Cook the spinach in a pan then drain any liquid before chopping it up and adding it to the tofu. Mix all together. After an hour, roll out your dough until it’s very thin on a floured surface. Make sure there’s enough flour otherwise it’ll stick to the surface and won’t work.
Cut out little circles with a cutter. Alternatively, you can cut them in to 2x2” squares. Add half a tsp of the filling to the center of one of the circles then add some water around the edges. Place another circle on top and flatten the sides.
You can use a fork to press down the edges. Repeat until they’re all done. (Any leftover filling can be used as a pasta sauce later on.) Boil some water and add them in one by one. Cook for 3-5 minutes then lightly fry them in some oil, more garlic and mixed herbs.
You can dry toast the pine nuts at this point. Serve with the garlicy oil sauce, fresh rosemary and basil and the pine nuts. Enjoy!
2. Palak kofta curry
