Slow Cooked Mixed Saag

Jagjit Kaur. Kharar, Mohali, Punjab

1kg Sarson (mustard greens)
1/2kg Palak (spinach)
100gm Soa (dill)
250gm Bathua or Methi (fenugreek)
Makai ka saag (maize flour)
Pyaz (onions), ground
Adrak (ginger), ground
Lehsun (garlic), ground
Hari mirch (green chilli), ground
Namak

The chopped leaves are cooked with ground ginger, garlic, onions and green chilli in a claypot on low heat throughout the day, with maize flour. In the modern kitchen the same process may be followed with an open pressure cooker on low flame for several hours. The cooked saag is mashed with a ghotna. If desired a tempering of garlic, onions and, occasionally, tomatoes in mustard oil may be added to the saag. The cooked saag is served with butter or ghee or even dahi.

Kalmi

Ipomoea aquatica, water spinach Patua(Bihar)

Jagdish. Bihar

Kalmi
Lal mirch (dried red chilli)
Makai ka atta (maize flour)
Chawal ka pani (water from soaked rice)
Haldi (turmeric)

Cooked in a tempering of dried red chilli the kalmi releases mucilage as it cooks and maize flour and rice water are added to it, besides haldi. The salt goes in towards the end when the mucilage is nearly gone.

Babori

Shimu Dutta

Babori
Lehsun (garlic)
Hari mirch (green chilli)
Batakh ka anda (duck eggs)
Vegetable oil

Add minced garlic and green chilli to hot oil in a wok. Cook chopped babori greens with salt in this tempering until done. Whisk two duck eggs and add to the hot saag and stir until the egg is evenly distributed into the hot saag.

Kulekhara Extract

Shimu Dutta

Kulekhara

The plant is grows throughout the year but grows long thorns around spring preventing humans/ animals from approaching it. Post Baisakh (mid April), the plant is easily accessible again.

It is known to have medicinal properties conducive to improving haemoglobin levels in blood.

An extract is made simply by stewing Kulekhara leves in water and straining the water.

Tainto Dal

Harsingar, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Night Flowering Jasmine, Parijat

Anamika Nandy

Harsingar
Moong dhuli (green gram, dehusked)
Sarson dana (mustard seeds)
Lal mirch (dried red chilly)

Served in moong dal. The leaves get cooked in hot dal or can alternately be blanched and added to the dal. The leaves of the harsingar are bitter, hence the name Teeta Dal (in Bangladesh, previously East Bengal) and Tainto Dal (in West Bengal, India). The dal is served with a tempering of sarson and lal mirch. The plant is known to have medicinal properties (unspecified).

Poru

Jagdish

Poru leaves
Rai (black mustard seeds)
Methi (fenugreek seeds)
Hing (asafoetida)
Khadi lal mirch (dried red chillies, whole)

Cooked with salt in a tempering of rai, methi, hing and, whole dried chillies.

Khadiya

Jagdish

Khadiya
Rai (black mustard seeds)
Lehsun (garlic), grated or minced
Adrak (ginger), grated or minced

Cooked witha tempering of rai and methi in ginger and garlic , usually with potatoes or yam, known as ole in the Bihar region.

Baquala

By Salma Husain (Food Writer)

Mooli
Palak
Hari Pyaz
Methi
Kulfa
Zeera (cumin seeds)
Lal Mirch (dried red chillies)
Nariyal (coconut) grated
Haldi (turmeric) powder
Dhaniya (coriander) powder
A winter fare in Bombay. The leaves are cooked with a tempering of cumin and dried red chillies with termeric and coriander. When nearly done it grated coconut is added to the preparation.