Curried Mustard Greens (Sarson Ka Saag)

 These cold snowy winters make me so homesick. Greatest thing I'm missing is the winter special food and  preparations going on for "Festival of Lohri" back home. Though sitting thousands of miles away from India, we still try to celebrate all the festivals to make our son accustomed with our traditions and culture. I've decided that I'm gonna get my Nostalgia get better of me & thru' this post I am sharing the traditional food relished on the Festival of Lohri, 13th January. The standard menu of the party is sizzling hot veggie pakoras, (all time favorite starters), lavish mustard curry (sarson saag) and cornflour flatbread (makki roti), Peanut or Sesame Brittle (Gud ki Gajjak), Til Bhugga Pinni (sesame balls in mlk) , last but not the lear Carrot Pudding (or Gajjar ka Halwa) .I  cook most of the the dinner and sweets at home and add to it the customary (Act II) popcorns in microwave and here we are - all geared up for Lohri celebrations with my family.

In this recipe, the curry with mustard and spinach greens is made by steaming the green leaves.  Traditionally the leaves are ground into a thick lumpy paste by pestle, but now a days to save time and energy a quick churn is given in the mixer. Then a tempering is made with onions/tomatoes/spices and added to the curry or saag. The fitness experts have always vouched on the innumerable benefits of eating greens for mind and body.

So go green - eat green and think green as green is synonymous with positivity.

The bunch of greens required to make this recipe are -

Ingredients:

Mustard Greens: One bunch

Spinach Greens: One bunch

Fenugreek Greens: 1/4 bunch

Onions: 2

Tomatoes : 4

Ginger: 2''

Garlic cloves : 4

Water : 2 cups

CornFlour : 2tsp (or dry roasted gramflour)
Desi Ghee: 2 tsp (add more to taste)
Salt, Chilli, Turmeric: 1 tsp each
Garam Masala: 1 tsp
Paneer Cheese : 200 gms (optional)
Dry Red Chilli: 2 for garnishing

Method: -

The preparations begins with a little tedious task of thoroughly washing all the greens. Trim the ends of leaves and roughly chopping the bunch of greens. The trick to make sumptuous saag is to crush the ginger and garlic in mortar and pestle, to extract there juices which later adds to the aroma of saag. In a pressure cooker, steam the chopped greens, crushed ginger garlic by adding water. Let the greens cool down and grind in a mixer to make a thick paste.

In a nonstick pan, heat oil and saute dry red chilly, onions and tomatoes. Add spices to taste. Take out the chilly for garnishing and puree onions/tomatoes.

Mix this tempering in the curry and gently add cornflour (makki atta) to thicken the curry/saag. In case, cornflour is not available,  dry roasted gram flour can be added too. The big chunks of paneer cheese can be added to the curry  to make saag paneer.

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मक्की की रोटी और सरसों का साग

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Click here for printable Recipe - My Creative Flavors

Garnish with dry red chilly. Generously add  desighee to taste, as this is the key taste defining ingredient of punjabi cuisines. Enjoy the steaming hot mustard curry/saag  with makki roti, gudh and chilli pickle....!

मक्की-की-रोटी

Some of my other LOHRI Specials can be found by clicking the links below: -

• Peanut-Almond Chikki
• Gajjar Ka Halwa
• Til Bhugga Pinni
•  Makki Ki Roti

Enjoy these hot meals over the cold weekend.

Stay warm and wishing my readers a very Happy Lohri... !!!!!

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Sending this post to BLOGHOP at http://www.spain-in-iowa.com/2011/01/simple-lives-thursday-28th-edition/

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and to Winter Warmers Event hosted this month at The Veggie Hut