Bathua saag

Hasina. Ranchi, Jharkhand

Bathua saag
Pyaz
Lal mirch
Soybean bari
Sarson ka tel

Boil saag and soyabean bari separately. Temper oil with pyaz and lal mirch. Add the saag and the soyabean and salt it.

Mendhak Saag/Beng Saag

Prabha. Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Mendhak saag
Pyaz
Hari mirch
Lahsun
Sarson ka tel

It grows as weeds in fields and is eaten along with its routes. The saag is cooked in a tempering of onion, pyaz, hari mirch and lahsun fried to light colour.

Phutkal Saag

Prabha, Ranchi.

The saag is also dried and stored to be eaten later.

Phutkal leaves
Lehsun (garlic)
Lal Mirch, whole (red chilly)
Sarson tel (mustard oil)

Heat and bring mustard oil to a smoking point. Temper oil with chopped garlic and red chilly. Boil the phutkal leaves and add the tempering.

Koinar Saag

Bauhinia purpurea L.
Ronga-kanchan (assamese), Koiral(Bengali), Kaniar (Hindi), Devakanchan (Kannada), Rakta Chandan (Marathi), Nilattiruvatti

Leaf: Lobed leaves, sometimes describes as being like a camel’s foot

Source: Both cultivated and wild

Prabha, Ranchi, Jharkhand

Koinar leaves
Jeera (cumin)
Lal mirch, whole (red chilly)
Pyaz (onion)
Sarson tel (mustard oil)

Was the leaves well. Heat a little mustard oil and bring to a smoking point before reducing the heat. Temper the oil with the cumin. Add red chilly and toss in onions before the chilly burns. Once the onions are translucent put in the leave and season with salt. Cook to a pleasant mush and serve with rice or roti.

Munga Saag

From Subhadeep Mukherjee’s blog Indian Vagabond

Munga/ moringa leaves
Potatoes
Salt

Wash and smash the munga leaves and boil them. Ass salt and boiled potatoes. Serve with dal and rice.

Saag ka raita

Jagjit Kaur. Kharar, Mohali, Punjab

Palak/Bathua
Dahi (yoghurt)
Adrak (ginger) ground to a paste
Hari mirch (green chilli) chopped

Separate the leaves, blanch them and ground to a fine paste. Season the yoghurt with salt and whip ground ginger and chopped green chillies into it, along with the ground leaves.

Arbi ke Pakode

Colocasia esculenta, Taro, Colocasia, cheppankilangu (Tamil)

Jagjit Kaur (Kharar, Mohali, Punjab)

Arbi ke patte (colocasia leaves)
Besan (bengal gram flour)
Lal mirch (red chilli) powder
Adrak lehsun (ginger garlic) ground to a paste
Tel (oil) for deep frying
Namak

Steam the arbi leaves and layer them with a batter of gram flour spices with salt, ginger garlic paste and red chilli powder. Roll the leaves and cut them into swiss roll like shapes and deep fry.

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.