Amaranth leaves (chaulai / thotakura)
चौलाई · அரைக்கீரை · తోటకూర · ದಂಟಿನ ಸೊಪ್ಪು
Fresh Produce
A quick sabzi or dal green, common in summer, and the keerai of Tamil kootu, poriyal and vadai — arai, mulai and siru keerai are all amaranths.
What to know
It cooks down further than spinach does and holds less water once squeezed, which is why it takes to being packed into a vadai or a bonda where spinach would waterlog it.
- Choosing it
- Buy it with the stems still crisp enough to snap. Limp bunches and any yellowing at the leaf edge mean it has been cut too long; the red-leaved kind cooks the same as the green and bleeds colour into whatever it is cooked with.
- Storing it
- Refrigerate unwashed and loosely wrapped, and use it within two days. Wash and chop only when you are ready to cook it — chopped amaranth wilts fast.
Measures
- 1 cup ≈ 33 g
Cups here are the Indian 200 ml cup, not the 240 ml US cup — a common reason a recipe does not work. Weigh where you can; the grams are the figure we cook to.
Recipes using amaranth leaves
None published yet.