Soya Palak (Spinach w/ Soy Chunks)

Source:  SpicyWorld

I have been wanting to try out a recipe with soya chunks for a while now.  I bought a packet a few months ago and just haven't had the chance.  You can get Nutrela soya chunks in any Indian store.  It's high in protein and I've seen a lot of recipes where this is used as a meat substitute.

Ingredients

• 1.5 -2 cups spinach (palak)
• 1.5 cups soya chunks
• 1/2 cup yogurt 
• 2 onions
• 4-5 green chillies
• 2-3 tomatoes 
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 5-6 mint leaves 
• Handful coriander leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder

Directions

Prepare Soya Chunks

1. Soak the soya chunks in hot water for 1 hour. Then squeeze out the water completely.
2. Marinate them with yogurt, salt, red chili powder and turmeric powder and a little ginger garlic paste for ~2 hours.

Prepare Spinach and Masala

1. Wash and chop the spinach leaves finely. Chop 1 onion finely.
2. In a pan heat a little oil and crackle the cumin seeds and add one sliced onion. 
3. Stir fry and add a little salt and spinach and simmer until the spinach has wilted and cooked.
4. Grind together one onion, mint, coriander leaves and green chillies.  Add a little water if you need to.  At this point I also added ~half the cooked spinach mixture and ground it together too.
5. Add the mixture w/ masalas, ginger, garlic, chopped tomatoes, salt and simmer for 6-7 minutes.
6. Taste and add more spice/ salt if necessary.  I added the tomato paste at this point because I thought it needed more of a tomato-y flavor.
7. Add the soya chunks and let it cook for a few more minutes.

Kuty's Twist

So this really came out great!  My additions to the original recipe were only because of my own taste preferences.  I added more green chilies, ground the cooked spinach so the gravy would be more smooth, and added more tomatoes.

I also increased the amount of spinach and soya chunks so I would have a lot of leftovers!  This tasted a lot better after 2 days. I think it gave the soya chunks some time to soak in the flavors.