Enjoy this simple yet heartwarming spinach dish from Kerala that is made with tender leaves of amaranth.Combining coconut, shallots, mustard seeds and chilli, this cheera thoran is essential to experience authentic Kerala food.
If you grew up in Kerala or travelled through there is no way you would have escaped the cheera thoran, steaming hot matta rice and an ozhichukari (gravy) of your choice. This basic amaranth leaf stirfry was our staple greens dish. With fresh amaranth leaves in plenty perfect for the humid weather there was no way we overlooked it in our meals. If not red amaranth, it will be the green one that occupied the corner of the plate. Here is that original Kerala recipe for cheera thoran.
Amaranth basics
Though a short-lived perennial, amaranth is one of the easiest greens to grow, provided the weather is your friend. In Asian countries, amaranth replaces kale in every possible way. It is popular in three colours the red leaves, of course, the green and a variegated pink and green one. There are numerous health benefits attributed to this variety of spinach, starting from the prevention of anemia to cholesterol control. To put it simply, it does everything that greens do for you in your diet.
It is not just the leaves that are edible, the tender stalk, the seeds are all edible for this plant. The seeds are a highly valued superfood. We have some recipe with the seeds on this blog,
Cutlets with Amaranth and potato ( tikki)
A variety of green we have featured on the blog
Greens form a huge part of our everyday diet, so they feature heavily on this blog as well. Here are some I am fond of.
- Hummingbird leaf – Agathi keerai is a highly medicinal leaf. Here is an easy preparation with the same – Agathi keerai poriyal.
- Spinach –store-bought baby Spinach is perfect to feed a crowd on a crazy weekday. Here is one recipe that saves you all the cleaning and chopping, dump the prepped green and get your greens in simply sauteed spinach or Spinach and peas dal.
- Sweet potato leaves -the softest when cooked these leaves for a delightful part of the parippukootu recipe.
- Brahmi or gotugola– is memory boosting herb. Turn them into a refreshing salad with grapes and a raita see how fast they are eaten.
- Methi or fenugreek leaves- are the house favourite. Here is the easiest side with fenugreek leaves and carrot – Methi gajar sabji.
- Radish tops is one of the easiest winter greens you will find so, use them to the best like a poriyal stirfry or mooli ki saag.
Ingredients for Cheera thoran
Amaranth leaf stirfry is a quick and simple recipe with a delicious mix of coconut and spices.
Amaranth leaves: the main ingredient is the tender leaves and tops of the amaranth plant. This is called cheera in Malayalam, thandu keerai in Tamil, lal saag in Hindi, thottakura in Telugu and haravina soppu in Kannada. You can use the red one, variegated ones or the green ones, they will taste the same. Ensure that you check the leaves both sides and remove the leaves with any marks or holes. the tender tops and soft leaves cook fast and are best suited for this recipe.
For the tempering : Classic South Indian tempering ingredients make this recipe good too.Whole black mustard seeds, channa dal and urad dal in small quantities followed by finely chopped shallots, curry leaves and chillies are sauteed in coconut oil to make the oil fragrant. You can omit the shallots and chillies if you dont like them.
Oil for tempering:Ideally make this recipe in coconut oil. This gives the classic Kerala cuisine aroma. However, oil is only a minor factor and you can change it to your liking.
Coconut:The second main ingredient you need is grated coconut. the juiciness of the freshly grated coconut complements the amaranth leaves.You can use thawed frozen coconut too, however add it along with the spinach to sautee it together. dessicted coconut is not very useful as it feels rubbery when mixed in.
Lets make Cheera thoran
Cheera thoran
Equipment
- Kadai
- Cutting board
Ingredients
For the greens
- 1 bunch amaranth greens Washed, cleaned and chopped. The chopped volume is around 2 cups when packed.
For tempering
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Channa Dal
- 1/2 tsp Urad Dal
- 2 dry red chillies broken
- 1 shallot sliced
- 1 sprig curry leaves
for finishing the recipe
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
Instructions
- Clean , wash and chop the amaranth leaves.
- In a wok add the oil followed by mustard seeds.
- When it splutters add the channa and urad dal, red chillies, shallot and curry leaves. Stir it around till the dal goes golden.
- Now add the chopped amaranth leaves
- Sprinkle salt.
- Toss for a minute. Cover and keep it on a low flame for two minutes till it wilts.
- Add the grated coconut.
- Stirfry for another minute and remove from heat.
- Serve warm with steamed rice.
Meal combinations with cheera thoran
The cheera thoran as a Kerala meal is perfect in the South Indian thali with steamed rice, coconut milk sambhar more kaachiyathu or pineapple rasam.
The recipe is lovely with simple triangle parathas too.
Meal prep and storage
Whenever we have homegrown amaranth, we don’t waste even one leaf of it. Cheera thoran is one of the esiest ways to prepare and store this greens. The amaranth stirfry lasts in the fridge for up to 4 days when you are doing a meal prep.
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Collaboration
This post was way past update dates, so here it is with garden-fresh red amaranth leaves. The content and images are updated here, the recipe remains the same as it is a classic Kerala recipe. The post is added to Foodies redoing old post group of bloggers.
Stay subscribed for new updates and see you in the next post.
I love to include greens in my daily diet. This amarunthus green stir fry sounds so flavorful Seema !
Very healthy thoran. Red amaranth is our favourite and we make it often. I will try your version now.
Lipsmacking delicious cheera thoran! The coconut oil will give the vegetable an amazing flavour. Love it.
Lovely stir fry for sure. It does not require much time to prepare too. Next time,I will use coconut oil while making it.
Such a simple and easy to make thoran with amaranth leaves. I love this subzi, i can eat it as such like a salad in bowl. Love how you have chopped them so fine!!
Cheera thoran so simple to make, so flavourful as it has coconut and healthy too. Waiting to get some fresh amaranth leaves to make this easy peasy side dish.
I love the taste of red amaranth but never tried with coconut. Cheera thoran sounds absolutely delicious and healthy. Next time I will try it in your way with coconut.
Thandu keerai poriyal was made right from harvesting the greens from pati’s house backyard. I particularly love the way your thoran has turned out seema. perfect with some hot rasam rice, ghee, this is super bliss !
Love such easy and healthy recipes. Simple stirfry but loaded with nutrients and so comforting.
Most everyday meal recipes from classic cuisine is simple yet delicious. Glad you also like them.
Except the shallots , we make keerai poriyal similarly. Amma sometimes adds par boiled moong dal to it too which we love ! The dish must taste delish with some hot rasam rice
I will love some Cheera thoran with curds and fulkas too. I absolutely love this amaranth and can live for days on it. Your method of making the vegetable is similar to mine.
I love keerai in any form. I am going to the market tomorrow,so will buy red Amaranth and make it for our weekend lunch.
I love this simple yet satisfying amaranth stir fry. It tastes good with jowar rotis.