Sarson ka Saag Recipe | How to make Sarson da Saag

Learn how to make Sarson ka Saag ~ Mashed mustard green and spinach curry

The temperature outside is steadily rising and the latest weather forecast says that it will touch 18 deg C this weekend! The delicate snowdrops and colourful crocus are blooming everywhere and the daffodils are almost ready to spread their sunshiny cheer! It feels like the winter is at its teetering end in my neck of woods.

In the last 13 years of winters in the UK, this year has been the mildest and short winter ever. Last year, we were still buried under the blanket of snow until April, and this year I have seen more sunny days than in winter than all the winters in the last decade put together! Talk about global warming!

Ingredients for Sarson da Saag

Before we bid adios to winter and winter produces, especially winter greens, I am making the most of them by cooking all my winter favourite dishes from India. The ingredients you see here are used in making one of my most favourite winter dish from the land of 5 rivers. It’s Sarson ka Saag or in simple words, mashed mustard and winter greens. Saag is a generic name for cooked and pureed green leafy vegetables like mustard greens, spinach, fenugreek leaves, kale, spring greens, coriander and even mint leaves! Unlike spinach greens, which takes just few minutes to wilt and cook, saag takes much longer time as the greens usually have thick leaves and veins which take long time to break when cooking. I don’t call myself a patient cook, but once in a while when there is a special occasions like my loved one’s birthday, I pour my energy and every bit of me into making something special to celebrate the special days of my loved ones. Like every year, I cook something new which they have never tried before for birthday dinner and this year for my husband’s birthday I cooked this classic combination of Sarson ka Saag and Makki ki Roti.

Quick and Simple Palak Paneer Curry Recipe | Quick and Simple Paneer Recipes

Learn how to make quick and simple Palak Paneer Curry ~ Indian cottage cheese in mildly spiced rich and creamy spinach gravy

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. A pearl of wisdom by my grandmother who not only lived a simple life, but also beautifully incorporated the art of simplicity in her cooking as well. With so many produce; fresh, exotic and vibrant, available with a click of a button, we sometimes forget how a simple food can really be uplifting and soul satisfying. After all, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, isn’t it?

Ingredients for Palak Paneer Curry

As I am recovering from a nasty flu, hubby took over the kitchen and cooked simple meals for days which nourished my aching body and comforted my troubled spirit. His cooking is very much like the person he is; simple, straight forward and down to earth with a touch of humour and little madness to make it anything but boring. It is during this time I realised how my cooking has evolved over the time and how complicated it has become by adding one too many ingredients. Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex but it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. Simple ingredients prepared in a simple way is the best way to take your everyday cooking to a higher level.

Veg Hara Bhara Kabab Recipe | Simple Vegan Kebab Recipes

Learn how to make Hara Bhara Kabab ~ Mildly spiced Indian vegan spinach and potato kebabs flavoured with fresh herbs and aromatic spices

We made these Hara Bhara Kababs exactly a month ago when LD was recovering from another bout of viral infection. When I say we, it means my 6-year-old and I, mom and son team. Cooking with over enthusiastic kid means fun, but it also means mess! I kid you not. The kitchen will end up looking like a bomb sight with flour covered kitchen floor and counter tops, sauce smeared kitchen cabinets, and a child who is covered with every ingredient that went into that pot or pan of food you are making! Then why teach your kids to cook when it means more of a mess than its worth?! Absolutely. Well, there is not just one, but 101 reasons to introduce our kids to the joys of cooking.

Teaching our kids to cook is one of the most basic life skills we can pass on and most importantly, it gives us the opportunity to teach them valuable lessons. I find him curiously touch, smell and taste the ingredients. This natural inquisitiveness of LD turns into total fascination and then surprise when he watches the dramatic transformation the food goes through in terms of colour, texture and size right before his eyes during cooking and baking. The once firm and hard potatoes turn soft and mushy, the delicate, easy to crack eggs become hard when boiled, the crystals of sugar and salt completely gets dissolved, the fruit is turned to juice and how it becomes one of his favourite treat ice lolly when kept in freezer overnight! If this is not magic, then I don’t know what else is?!

Lasooni Dal Palak Recipe | Quick and Easy Dal or Lentil Soup Recipes

Learn how to make Lasooni Dal Palak ~ Garlic flavoured lentil and spinach soup

As my mother complained about hot weather in India, unusual for this time of the year, I just wished I was at home in India as I gazed at grey skies wearing my winter jacket, snow boots and my hands tucked inside my jacket pocket to keep it warm! Spring in India is much hotter than the summers here in UK and the signals how brutal the summers are going to be. With air conditioning turned on during spring season, especially in the night, I can just imagine the kind of summer India is going to welcome in couple of weeks. I hate hot weather and the only thing that made the heat bearable was the arrival of summer bounty, especially mangoes. But given a choice, I will gladly take the sweaty and hot sunny days over the gloomy cold weather. I thought I was immune to it, and to be frank, I didn’t even care for the weather as I did enjoy the cold winters especially coming from a hot tropical country where the sun shines for 365 days a year! But I guess this is what happens to someone who hasn’t seen the face of sun god for weeks!

This winter by far been worse one during my 10 years of living in the UK. It feels like a big joke when the leader of first world says climate change is a fake news when we are still in the clutches of ruthless winter god even after mid-March! With terrible mood swings and low energy, I can’t wait to get enough of Vitamin D in summer. But if days continue to be this cold and gloomy, we might as well skip spring entirely and welcome summer! ~sigh~ Maybe it’s time to plan a trip to some sunny part of the world, or just cook something that brings the colours of summer in a bowl… Since the first one seems like out of reach as hubby is buried under workload, the latter is the only choice as of now…

Palak-Methi Pulao Recipe | How to Make Simple Veg Pulao/Pulav/Pilaf

Learn how to make Palak-Methi Pulao/Pulav/Pilaf ~ Basmati rice cooked with spinach, fresh fenugreek leaves, green peas, coconut milk and flavoured with whole spices and fresh herbs

I know it is bit late to talk about New Year’s resolution. I made one but never talked about with anyone as most of my New Year resolutions becomes things of past within a week’s time! So I kept quiet all this while thinking this year’s resolution too will vanish in thin air! It’s now almost a month and half since we welcomed 2013 and I felt I can share it with you all as I have successfully managed to stick to it and also enjoying it.

Palak Paneer Recipe | How to make Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer

Is it Saag Paneer or Palak Paneer? Which one it is? ‘What’s in the name?’ you may ask! Well, everything! How will you feel if you are addressed differently from your own name? Aha… yes! Now we are talking… so why this partiality when it comes to food? After all as long as the food on plate is edible, we shouldn’t be much bothered about how it is called, right?

Saag Mushrooms | Palak(Spinach) Mushroom Curry Recipe

Saag Mushrooms | Palak(Spinach) Mushroom Curry

As the sun sets, leaving behind golden hues in the dark sky, I am eager to go home… Go home to my two special men who complete my life and make it so much happier and fun to live!

Spicy Palak aur Makai ki Subji (Spicy Spinach & Sweet Corn Stir-Fry)

Spicy Palak aur Makai ki Subji

Lil Dumpling is ill! AGAIN! It all started two days before weekend. First it was cold and coughs and now the poor baby has to go through the piercing pain of ear infection! I am not happy. Not at all…

Black & White Wednesday with Spinach Flowers

Pretty Spinach Flowers

Here is my first entry for dear Susan’s Black and White Wednesday, a new culinary photo event. I had the pleasure of participating and then hosting Susan’s popular event MLLA which revolves around My Legume Love Affair!

Creamy Sweet Corn and Spinach Soup: Do you like your 'Greens'?

Creamy Creamy Sweet Corn and Spinach Soup

After days of glorious sunshine and top temperature, it was a welcome relief when rain drops hit the dry, broiling mother earth. It wasn’t some heavy pour with thunderstorms but a gentle drizzle which urges you to venture out without an umbrella. You can feel the green grass blades dancing with new lease of life when your bare feet touch them. As they tickle your bare feet, you curl your toes and lift your face to the vivid blue sky dotted with few heavy grey clouds. And then suddenly your are transformed to magical wonderland when your eyes blurred by the water droplets covering your lashes catches one of the most wonderful sights created by the nature, bright and colourful rainbow. You can’t help but wonder about the tales of pot of gold buried at the end of this colourful arch told umpteen numbers of times by your nana…

Palak Channa: For the Mother's Soul...

 Palak Channa  

Life’s become one helluva of a roller coaster ride to say the least. Juggling work and home with a clingy baby is no plain sailing. It’s not like I don’t have enough things on my plate. In fact, I feel that my plate is so full and I might drop it anytime and never have the courage to pick it up again! I am trying to do everything in my power to walk on razor thin, tight rope of my life balancing work in one hand and home in another. It’s a delicate process which requires lots of courage, commitment, passion and support from loved ones, especially from one’s partner. Thank god, I am lucky enough to have one such man as my life partner.

Aloo Palak: Green Indulgence

Aloo Palak

Ever since we came back from our adventurous trip to north Wales (more of it in coming posts, hopefully!), we have hardly been entering our kitchen except for heating the food in microwave. Simple Dal and Rasams is all we managed to cook when it became too agonising to even lift a spoon after all those adventurous sports. Well, all that climbing, biking, and walking seemed like a good way of relaxing at that time, but at present I can’t help but think that we may have overdone it when I try to walk without limping with back and leg pain!

Tired of eating same dal and rasams with rice for last few days, we set out into making something of a treat to ourselves to cheer our taste buds. With few sad looking potatoes in a pantry and a bag of wilted baby spinach on the verge of committing suicide if it was not used in a day or two, I decided to cook much loved Punjabi dish called Aloo Palak. Aloo Palak, delicious gravy of spinach with tender potatoes doesn’t need any introduction. For me Aloo Palak is a dish which serves as a benchmark for many good cooks/chefs at home and restaurants. Like many other recipes in India, Aloo Palak can also be cooked in many ways using as little as 5 ingredients to as many as dozens of ingredients. Sometime you will be served Aloo Palak in a gravy form or simple stir fried form. But whatever way it’s been cooked or served, it remains to be one of the most loved Indian foods among many foodies.

I have been cooking this dish for around 3 years and at last I can say that we have found the recipe which we love the most. The base gravy is little thick due to addition of cashews which not only thickens the gravy but gives it little nutty and wonderful taste. With cashews, I add wee bit of dried fenugreek leaves which gives it very pleasant bitter taste along with extraordinary aroma and flavour it imparts. Both these ingredients are optional, and I don’t think they are used in a traditional recipe of Aloo Palak. But at the same time, these two ingredients add that oomph factor to my recipe of Aloo Palak. So try this recipe when you want to cook little different Aloo Palak and enjoy the whole goodness of greens this winter.

Baby Spinach and Potatoes for Aloo Palak

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Aloo Palak (Potatoes in delicious Spinach Gravy)

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Serves: 4-5

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Ingredients:
5-6 packed cups of Spinach, washed, drained and roughly chopped
3 medium Potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, chopped and cooked with salt
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2-3 Tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tbsp Mint Leaves, roughly chopped (Optional)
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
5-7 Cashew Nuts
3-5 Green Chillies (Adjust acc to taste)
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
2 Green Cardamoms
2 Cloves
1 tsp Sugar
½ tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Aamchur/Dry Mango Powder or 1 tbsp Lime Juice
½ tbsp Kauri Methi/Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Optional)
1+½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1+½ tbsp Oil/Ghee
Salt to taste

Aloo Palak

Method:

Heat about ½ tbsp of oil in a pan and add cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. Sauté it for few seconds and add ½ tsp of cumin seeds. When cumin seeds start to sizzle and turn golden red, add cashews and green chillies. Sauté it on medium flame till cashews turn light golden brown in colour.
Mix in roughly chopped spinach, sugar and cover the lid. Cook this spinach cover for few minutes on a medium heat till it is wilted. If needed sprinkle little water in between to avoid them sticking to the pan. Cool the mixture and grind it to smooth paste with mint leaves adding as little water as possible. Keep aside this mixture till required.
Heat ½ tbsp of oil in the same pan and remaining cumin seeds. When it starts to sizzle, add finely chopped onion and sauté it for a minute. Now add ginger-garlic paste and sauté it till the raw smell disappears, about a minute. Mix in chopped tomatoes and sauté till it becomes pulpy.
Add kitchen king masala, garam masala and kasuri methi and keep stirring till nice aroma of masala fills the kitchen, about a minute. Mix in ground spinach paste and add about 1- 1½ cups of water and salt to taste. Let it cook on a low to medium flame for about ten minutes.
Add cooked potato pieces and amchur powder to spinach gravy and mix well. Cook for another 5-10 minutes so that potato absorbs all the flavours. Serve this Aloo Palak with any Indian bread of your choice and enjoy.

A Twist in the Tale: Palak Tofu

Palak Tofu/Saag Tofu

Me: Eiks… What’s that ugly green thing Amma?
Mom: Its spinach. I am making spinach curry for tonight’s dinner.
Me: Eww… Don’t bother! I had rather eat plain rice than eating that yucky green thing!
Mom: Why don't you taste little and see if you like it.
Me: I don’t want to taste it because I know I won’t like it. So why tasting it when I already know I am not gonna like it?
Mom: Because it’s good for you. You’ll become strong if you eat it. Remember Popeye? He is strong because he eats spinach.
Me: oh yes! Popeye eats spinach and gets lots of energy and then he beats Bluto. That means even I’ll get lots of energy to beat that bad boy in my class who pulls my hair everyday during school assembly!!! Mmm…
Mom: ~rolls her eyes~

Sounds familiar right? It’s still unknown as why kids preferred to get their tongues burnt than eat greens. I too grew up hating green leafy vegetables with passion and there was no way my Amma could make me eat them. Like many mothers all around the globe Amma tricked me by mixing it with Paratha, Dosa, Poories, deep fried goodies which we kids would eat happily without knowing it had greens which we hated. There was one exceptional green leafy vegetable which I grudgingly ate and yes, it’s Spinach or Palak. Reason for eating it was of course my childhood super hero Popeye, the sailor.

But there was one dish which I wouldn’t have shared even with Popeye. I would happily eat it without anyone holding a gun on my temple! It is classic Punjabi dish Saag Paneer or Palak Paneer. Soft paneer cubes dunked in creamy, lightly spiced spinach gravy has to be one of the most liked side dish in Indian restaurants. It is mildly spiced and hence loved by people of all age groups from 8 to 80. As Paneer is little heavy on tummy and waist, I substituted it with Tofu to make it guilt free indulgence. Addition of cashews gives very creamy consistency for Palak gravy and makes it stand apart from usual Saag Paneer dish (Tip picked from Indira's Palak Paneer recipe where she says she learnt it from her Punjabi neighbor Deviji). We enjoyed this creamy Palak Tofu/Saag Tofu with Mooli Parathas (recipe will be posted soon).

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Palak-Tofu/Saag-Tofu (Lightly Fried Tofu in Spiced Spinach Gravy)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 4-5

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Ingredients:
1 big bunch of Spinach (Approx. 6-8 packed cups, here I used Baby Spinach)
2 cups firm Tofu, squeezed to remove excess water and cubed into ¾ inch pieces
1 medium Onion, finely chopped
2 medium Tomatoes, finely chopped
6-8 Cashew Nuts
3-4 Green Chillies (adjust acc to taste)
1 tbsp Coriander Leaves
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1+ ½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
½ inch Cinnamon Stick
2-3 Green Cardamom
2-3 Cloves
¼ tsp Coriander Powder
½ tsp Kitchen King Masala (Optional)
½ tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Kasuri Methi (Optional)
1 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Sour Cream (Optional)
½ + ½ tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Spinach & Tofu for Saag

Method:
Heat about ½ tbsp of oil in a pan and add cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. Sauté it for few seconds and add ½ tsp of cumin seeds.
When cumin seeds start to crackle add cashews and green chillies. Sauté it on medium flame till cashews turn light golden brown in colour.
Mix in roughly chopped spinach, sugar and cover the lid. Cook this spinach cover for few minutes on a medium heat till it is wilted. If needed sprinkle little water in between to avoid them sticking to the pan.
Cool the mixture and grind it to smooth paste with coriander leaves adding as little water as possible. Keep aside this mixture till required.
Heat ½ tbsp of oil in the same pan and remaining cumin seeds. When it starts to sizzle, add finely chopped onion and sauté it for a minute.
Now add ginger-garlic paste and sauté it till the raw smell disappears, about a minute. Mix in chopped tomatoes and sauté till it becomes pulpy.
Add coriander powder, kitchen king masala, garam masala and kasuri methi and keep stirring till nice aroma of masala fills the kitchen, about a minute time.
Mix in ground spinach paste and add about 1- 1½ cups of water and salt to taste. Let it cook on a low to medium flame for about ten minutes.
While the spinach gravy is cooking heat little oil in a pan and placed cubed tofu pieces. Pan fry both the sides of tofu till they turn golden brown. This step is optional and can be omitted if you don’t prefer to fry tofu pieces.
Add lightly fried tofu and sour cream, if using, to spinach gravy and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes so that tofu absorbs all the flavours. Serve this Palak-Tofu/Saag-Tofu with any Indian bread of your choice and enjoy.

Palak Tofu/Saag Tofu

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Note:
Replace Tofu with Paneer to make wholesome Palak-Paneer or Saag-Paneer.
Addition of cashew is optional. I have added it to give creamy texture to the gravy.

Other Tofu Recipes posted in Monsoon Spice:

• Tofu Stuffed Kulcha
• Thai Veg and Tofu Green Curry
• Thai Tome Yum Soup with Mushroom & Tofu

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Final Call for an 'Ode to Potato'! One more Day to Go...

An Ode to Potato ends on 15th of March (GMT Time). Send in your entry before the deadline and join us in the singing. Bake, boil, mash, fry, sauté, grill, stuff, cook... The choice is endless.

Deadline: 15th March, 2008

Please go through the guidelines and include all the required information in your post and mail when sending me your entry. Don't forget to add Your Name, Your Blog Name, Name of the Dish you cooked, Perm Link of the entry along with the gorgeous Photo of Potato dish.

Click Here to find out more information on this event.

Dhal Palak

Weekend lunch... And this time I went for very light and healthy food, Dhal Palak. It took me 15 minutes to prepare this wonderful dish. There is no grinding or cooking for long time. Everything is quick and fast. I served it with Rooma's Jhatpat Aloo Paratas. So this very easy and delicious recipe i'm passing to my buddy Pooja for her vegetable of the week:) Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did:)

Quick And Fast Dhal Palak

Ingredients:
2 bunches of Palak/Spinach
1/2 cup Masoor Dal/Red Lentils
2 medium Onion, chopped finely
2 large Tomatoes, sliced thinly
1 inch Ginger, chopped finely
1 tsp Jerra/Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Garam Masala
3 Green Chillies, sliced
Salt and Sugar to taste
1 tbsp Oil

Dhal Palak

Method:
Cut Palak finely and cook with little water.
Cook Dal with little turmeric powder in pressure cooker.
Heat oil in a pan and season with jeera.
When it splutters add onions and fry till golden brown.
To this add chopped ginger and sliced chilli and fry for a minute.
Now add sliced tomatoes and fry for 1-2 minutes.
Add cooked palak and dal and pour enough water, salt, sugar, garam masala and turmeric powder.
Boil for few minutes and then add lemon juice just before removing it from flame.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice/chapati/roties.

Dhal Palak

Variations:
You can use fenugreek leaves instead of palak.
While seasoning add few red chillies, garlic and fenugreek seeds.

Final Verdict:
It turned out to be big hit with my hubby. This was the first time I cooked Dhal Palak and my hubby insists that it should be in our weekend menu for atleast once a month:)

Dhal Palak served with Rooma's Quick Aloo Parata

Thanks Rooma for your wonderful recipe of Jhatpat Aloo Paratas. It was delicious and we enjoyed it a lot:)

Palak Kofta Curry

Every weekend is a big cooking bash for us. By the time we drag ourselves from bed and have our brunch it will be past one in the noon. So we start cooking dinner in leisure and I love every moment of it. Our usual Saturday dinner is quite special and exotic Indian food and this weekend was no exception. And what else can be exotic than Koftas!!! I didn’t want to make the regular Aloo Koftas in basic onion and tomato base curry and opted Palak/Spinach as the base curry. As kofta is prepared by deep frying, I wanted to make it packed with whole lot of nutrition and nothing can beat spinach in that case. This time I went for simple, straight forward recipe which I am sharing with you all.

Palak Kofta Curry

Ingredients:
3 bunches Palak/Spinach, wahed and finely chopped
1 cup Milk
3 Onions, finely chopped
4-5 Potatoes
4 slices of Bread
1/4 cup Green Peas
1 inch Cinnamon
2-3 Green Cardamom
3-4 Cloves
2-3 Green Chillies
1 inch Ginger, minced
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmaric Powder
1/2 tbsp Amchur/Dry Mango Powder
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1 tbsp Cashew nuts, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp Raisins
2 tbsp Butter/Oil/Ghee
2-3 tbsp of Gram Flour
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Green Green... Palak Kofta Curry

Method:
For Koftas:
Pressure cook potatoes,peel and mash thourougly.
Soak bread in water, squeeze and add to the potatoes.
Mix with finely cut onion, chillies, cooked green peas, coriander leaves, garam masala, salt, amchur powder, cashwes, raisins and small amount of finely chopped palak.
Mix well and prepare small balls.
Dip them in gram flour paste and deep fry in hot oil and keep aside.

Palak Kofta Curry

For the Gravy:
Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and fry the palak with a little sugar added to it.
Sprinkle little water if necessary.
Remove from flame after few minutes when it becomes soft.
Cool it and grind to a smooth paste.
Heat butter in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves and cradamom.
After 1 minutes add onions and fry till the turn transparent.
To this add ginger, ground palak with milk, salt, chilli powder, amchur, turmaric, kitchen king masala and garam masala.
Mix well and cook it till the gravy thickens in a medium flame.
Add Koftas just before removing from fire or while serving.
Serve hot with roties/chapaties/rice.

Golden Sun Rising from Green Mountain... Palak Kofta Curry

Final Verdict:
It looked good and tasted amazing. The golden brown Koftas in rich green curry reminded me of sun rising from Green Mountain. (Am i sounding too melodramic?;) The blandness (???) of spinach complimented the rich taste of potatoes. I made it little mild than usual as I didn’t wanted the spicy taste to dominate. One more thing i noticed was because the kofta’s were coated with thin paste of gram flour before deep frying, the amount of oil absorbed by kofta’s were comparatively less. So all together it tasted heavenly.

Stuffing of Palak Kofta Curry served with Jeera Rice

Tip:
Add sugar while frying the palak so that the green colour of palak is preserved.

Palak Kofta Curry