Sarsoon Ka Saag

“Sarson ka saag” is a winter specialty of Punjab, and is often served with maki ki roti (a flatbread made of corn meal) and  lassi ( a refreshing drink made of with buttermilk or yogurt). For me you are not a true Punjabi if you are not a saag lover. There are different ways of making saag, or may be its more appropriate to say every family has its own way of making it, so here’s my version of sarson ka saag ….

Ingredients:

250gms spinach

500 gms mustard leaves

1 tbsp  ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 ½-2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1 1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)

3-4 green chilis

¼ cup ghee (clarified butter)

2-3 tbsp maize flour/cornmeal (you can even use normal flour we use for roti)

Method:

1) Wash Mustard Leaves and Spinach well to remove any dirt, remove tough stalks from the Mustard Leaves and roughly chop spinach and mustard leaves

2) Add them in a pot with 2 cups of water and let it cook uncovered on low flame for almost an hour.

3) Half way through add salt, red chili powder and green chilies. Once the leaves are tender and the water has almost dried turn off the flame. 

4) Let it cool down a bit then blend it in either a food processor or with a hand blender. You don’t want it to be too smooth  a little coarse is fine. Put is back on heat, add in the flour a little at time and stir well (so no lumps are formed). let it cook for further 5 minutes and keep stirring it every now and then (you can check the seasoning and adjust at this point).   

5) Heat Ghee in a pan and add the garlic paste and saute it for 2 minutes, add the ginger paste and saute it further for a minute or until the garlic and ginger turn light brown (you don’t want to burn the ginger and garlic), now add this tempering to the mashed saag, add in a hand full of chopped fresh coriander

6) Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes and turn of the flame. serve hot with plain roti or maki ki roti. For better taste add butter to the saag at the time of serving.