palak saag – spinach greens

one punjabi delicacy combination i love in the winters is sarson da saag (mustard greens) and makki di roti (flat maize flour  bread).

whilst our stay in delhi in the winters, we used to make both sarson da saag and makki di roti almost once a week at home. and it would be awesome, with white butter on top of both the roti and the saag.

i was not much of a lover of punjabi food. i preferred my goan and south indian food always over punjabi food. but after getting married to a punjabi man, i started to make, relish and savor punjabi cuisine.

initially, i was actually shocked to see how much of ghee goes over the parathas and then to top it up with butter and then finish of with lassi. too much for me to handle :-0

this palak saag recipe is exactly the same way i make sarson da saag. i do not get sarson in goa, so i have made the saag with spinach and radish. and spinach is very good for you and your family…

you can make the saag with any greens of your choice. a combination of spinach and fenugreek leaves/methi is also good. if you can get mustard leaves, then make the same recipe with mustard leaves, spinach and bathua leaves (also known as chenopodium/goosefoot/fat hen in english)

i also made makki di roti to go along with the palak saag and the recipe is posted on this link: makki di roti.

i have also made the saag in microwave as we ran out of cooking gas. in the step by step post i will write  the microwave method and in the notes section below i have mentioned the usual cooking method for palak saag.

we usually make saag at home and then keep it for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. before serving, we temper the saag and then serve it with the rotis. in fact the saag always tastes better the next day.

step by step recipe for making palak saag in the microwave oven follows:

wash and chop the spinach leaves.

do the same with radish leaves. use fresh and tender radish greens. also peel the radish roots, chop them and add to the spinach.

now add chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chili with 1/2 cup water.

and microwave for 7-8 minutes on full power. after this add maize flour, red chili powder, butter and salt. note that these ingredients can also be added later on to the pureed mixture. mix well.

again microwave for 5 minutes more.

i felt the need to microwave more, so again i microwaved the greens on medium power for 5 minutes.

and yet still i felt i have to microwave more…. you will see how much liquids the greens and other veggies have released.

let the whole mixture be cooled, and then blend everything in a mixer or blender either coarsely or smoothly, without adding any water.

now microwave again for 4-5 minutes… see the difference below. the saag has thickened…

for the tempering melt the ghee in a microwave safe bowl on full power for 1 minute. add the chopped onions .

microwave for 7-8 minutes till the onions turn a light brown

add the amount of saag that you are going to serve. microwave for 2 or 3 minutes more.

top up the serving bowls of saag with some homemade white butter and serve with makki di roti and some onions and green chilies.

 few points to note for palak saag recipe:

• use fresh and tender greens. you don’t want the saag to be fibrous.

• for cooking the saag on fire, follow this method:
  1: add all the greens, onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chilies with salt and water in a deep pan or a pressure cooker. add around 1 cup water to the veggies.
  2: cook the whole lot in the pan for 7-10 minutes or in a pressure cooker for 3-4 minutes.
  3: once cooled blend into a smooth or coarse paste. add the saag in another pan and simmer for 7-10 minutes till it thickens a little bit.

• for the tempering, brown the onions in ghee and then add the saag to it. simmer for 3-4 minutes. for a saag serving 2-3 people, 1 medium sized onion is enough with 2 tbsp ghee for the tempering. the remaining saag you can refrigerate and use as when required.

• if you do not eat onions and garlic, you can skip the garlic and onions entirely. for the tempering, fry some ginger with the ghee and then add the saag to it.

so do try making the palak saag this winter and let me know

palak saag recipe details are below:

palak saag

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Ingredients

For the Saag:

• 2 bunch of spinach/palak, chopped
• 2-3 radish with tender leaves, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-3 medium size tomatoes, chopped
• 1 green chili, chopped
• 1 inch ginger, chopped
• 5-6 garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 2-3 tbsp butter or 1 or 2 butter sticks
• 1 tbsp maize flour
• ½ cup water
• salt

For tempering the saag for 2-3 servings:

• 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped enough for saag meant for 2 people
• 1 small green chili, chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp chopped ginger (optional)
• 1-2 tbsp ghee/clarified butter

Instructions

Preparing the Saag:

1. combine all the greens, onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic-chili with water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 7-8 minutes on high power.
2. add the butter, maize flour, salt and chili powder.
3. microwave again on medium power for 12-15 minutes.
4. when cooled, blend the whole mixture coarsely or smoothly… whatever you prefer.
5. microwave the pureed mixture for 4-5 minutes on medium power.

Preparing the Tempering for 2-3 servings:

1. in another microwave safe bowl, take some ghee and microwave for 1-2 minutes.
2. add the onions and microwave for 7-8 minutes till they get light browned.
3. add the 2-3 small bowls of saag to the browned onions and microwave for some 2-3 minutes more.
4. top the spinach saag with homemade butter and serve with makki di roti.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 4-5

3.2.1652