Saag Reshmi

 

Saag 

My Mom talked about a delicious sarson ka saag that her neigbor cooked for her. I had a 50-50 organic leaf mix sitting with me which I wanted to cook today. I instantly requested to speak to her for the recipe. The recipe is for sarson ka saag but I tweaked it for my lea and it turned out to be very delicious. I'll be posting both the original and the tweak. Thankyou for your recipe, Reshma!

Ingredients for Sarson ka Saag:

Mustard Greens - Sarson - 1 bunch

Spinach - 1 bunch

Bathua - 1 bunch

Garlic - 1 small pod or 10-12 cloves

Onion - 1 big or 2 medium

Tomatoes - 3-5(depending on the size)

Green chillies - 2-3

Ginger - 2 inches.

Ingredients for my Leaf Mix Saag:

Leaf Mix - 1 box - 450 gms (16 oz)

Radish leaves - tender - 6-7, without stalks

Radish - 3 inch piece - chopped

Onion - 1 big 

Tomatoes - 2 big

Green chillies - 2 

Garlic - 10 cloves - chopped in a manual chopper

Ginger - 2 inches - grated

Mustard oil - 3 teaspoons 

Ghee - a bit, for the final tadka

Red chillies

Salt, turmeric, red chilly powder

Method - 

1. Cover and boil the leaves and radish in very little water. Let the mix cool.

2. Chop onions and tomatoes. You can puree 3/4th of tomatoes and leave 1/4th  as roughly chopped. I used a manual chopper for garlic, onions and tomatoes. 

3. Heat mustard oil. You can use any other oil but mustard oil for mustard greens sounds just right!

4. Add garlic. Then onions. After a while,  add grated ginger and chopped green chillies. Add salt and let them turn golden brown. Add tomatoes. After 5 minutes, add turmeric and red chilly powder. 

5. I used the chopper to roughly grind the boiled leaves. Even if you use a mixer, do not make a fine paste. Add the coarsely ground leaves to the mix. Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes. The longer you simmer, the creamier the texture. If it's mustard greens, simmer for 45 minutes. This will help the curry to get a creamy texture. You can add garam masala. (I did not)

6. Prepare the final baghaar. Heat a teaspoon of ghee. Add 2-3 dried red chillies and add this mix to the saag. You can season this in butter or oil too. You can use more ghee or butter. It will definitely add to the taste but I did away with the additional fat.

7. I simmered it exactly for 45 minutes. The taste was perfect! Edit: I've made this by simmering for just 10 minutes and it tasted good. 

Tips:

1. There's no jeera or mustard seeds in the seasoning. Heeng can be added but I did not.

2. I could have added more radish leaves. I have a few kohlrabi. radish and beetroot leaves in my fridge. Wonder if I can try this recipe with that blend:) 

3. Do not add methi leaves to the mix. It will give a bitter taste. 

4. Try to boil the leaves in minimal water. 

5. I was curious about what all was in my leaf mix. Here it is! Very interesting :) 

Teheri

Comfort food for a cold evening :) I just felt like eating a hearty teheri today and it turned out lip-smackingly satisfying!

Ingredients:

(Serves 3 Adults)

Basmati Rice - 1.25 cups

Ghee - 1.5 spoons

Potato - 1 medium - big chunks

Onion - 1 medium, cut thin lengthwise (skip them if you're short of time)

Garlic - 6-8 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

Peas - 1/2 cup

Carrots - 1 big, julienned

Beans - chopped 1 inch pieces

Coriander leaves - chopped, a handful

Khada Garam Masala - 1 bayleaf (tej patta), 2 cloves, 1 open cardamom (elaichi), cinnamon powder.

Cumin seeds, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, salt.

Method:

1. Heat ghee. 

2. Add cumin seeds and then khada garam masala. 

3. Add pounded / grated garlic. 

4. Add onions and salt. Sauté for a while. 

5. Add ginger, potatoes, peas, beans, carrots. Sauté for 5 minutes. 

6. Add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, jeera powder. Mix well and sauté for another couple of minutes. 

7. Add soaked rice. Turn and mix. Add 1.5 cups water in 1 cup rice. One whistle in cooker. In IP - either rice setting or 5 minutes on manual. Let it cool. Add dhaniya patta. 

You'll love it! Eat with dahi, raita or a pickle of your choice. 

Bitter Fact About Bottle Gourd (Lauki) That Could Save your Life

Although bottle gourd is a very popular vegetable in Indian cuisine, there's a surprising fact about it, which people hardly know. A bitter bottle gourd could be fatal. 

Who would have thought that an innocuous-looking bottle gourd could make you rush to emergency?

A few years back, my sister-in-law had to rush to a doctor due to this. She had cooked a bottle gourd curry and it tasted bitter. Disregarding the bitter taste, she took another bite. Soon after, she started vomiting. The doctor told her that it was due to bottle gourd poisoning.

Recently, a friend again brought it to my attention. Her acquaintance landed in ICU due to this poisoning. Though my friend is an avid cook, she never knew about the probability of a bitter lauki wreaking such havoc. She insisted that I write a piece on this and finally, here it is!

A veggie full of goodness can turn fatal if bitter.

Also known as lauki, doodhi and ghiya,  bottle gourd has a mild, bland taste. But one in thousands can be bitter. 

The bitterness in bottle gourd is due to the presence of a toxin called Tetracyclic Triterpenoid Cucurbitacin. This toxin could lead to stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding. 

Before using a bottle gourd:

1. Taste a small piece of bottle gourd from both ends.

2. If it tastes bitter, spit out the piece and throw away the gourd.

3. Drink bottle gourd juice in moderation. If consumed in leass quantity, around 50 ml, the poisoning can be managed better. If consumed over 200 ml, bitter juice can turn fatal. 

4. If you make juice out of bottle gourd, don't mix this juice with any other vegetable juice. Drink it neat!

For e.g. if bottle gourd juice is mixed with bitter gourd juice (lauki mixed with karela), the bitter gourd juice could mask the taste of bottle gourd in case the bottle gourd is bitter. Quite a tongue and mind twister, this! Read again :)

The same holds true for gourds, cucumbers, squash, pumpkin and melon family. If they taste bitter, don't use them. 

Symptoms:

In case a person complains of discomfort or starts vomiting blood after consuming a bottle gourd, don't take it lightly. 

The symptoms can be immediate or can take a while.

Rush to emergency and let the doctor know about the quantity and level of bitterness of bottle gourd consumed. Take a sample of bottle gourd/ juice with you if you can. 

This poisoning needs immediate medical attention. If left untreated, a person can lose his life. 

Treatment: 

There is no antidote for it. The patients are generally treated with intravenous fluids and a thorough checkup of all vital organs is carried out. 

Prevention is the Best Cure:

Spread the word amongst your family and friends. Speak to your cook.  

It is also important for emergency doctors to know about this poisoning and interventions required. 

By spreading awareness, you could save someone from an unpleasant, life-threatening experience. 

Using Watermelon Whites

With each grocery trip being like returning from a war-zone, there's a new found respect for food! A good fallout of the pandemic is that people are rethinking their food habits and ways to maximize the output from fruits and vegetables. 

As you grow conscious about what you toss in the bin, you start wondering about how it could have been avoided in the first place.

Eating a watermelon means dealing with a ton of rinds. While I haven't ventured to experiment with the outer rind yet, the whites below the rind have been looking at me with imploring eyes. I don't have the heart to toss them in the bin, even if it's the compost bin!

My Mom makes a curry with the white parts but I'm not a big fan of this curry. So I was on a lookout for other uses. 

The green of the rind goes to the compost bin. Pic courtesy: Pixabay

Watermelon Whites

I figured out that if the whites could be blended in a gravy or paste, that would be good. I decided to add them to a lentil pancake batter. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients : 

Moong daal (small yellow lentil) - 1 cup

Watermelon whites - 2 cups

Tomato - 1 medium

Onion - 1/2 

Coriander - A fistful along with stalks

Ginger - 1 inch

Garlic (optional) - 3-4 cloves

Green chillies (optional) - 1-2

Lemon juice - Half a lemon

Spices - Red chilly powder, cumin seeds, salt, amchoor (raw mango powder) or lemon juice.

Watermelon whites added to lentils to make a savory pancake (dosa)

Way To Go:

1. Wash the lentils well and soak for at least 2-3 hours. You can soak them overnight too. Blend all the ingredients together. You can add more watermelon whites or water to make a consistency like pancake batter. Taste the batter and adjust spices.
2. When the griddle is hot, season it with some oil. Pour the mix on hot griddle. Keep it on medium-high flame. Flip the pancake when well done from one side. Let it sauté lightly on the other side. 
3. When done, enjoy it hot with ketchup or a dip of your choice. 

The watermelon whites made the batter very light and fluffy. I loved the fact that the volume of the batter went up without a change in taste. 

Here are some other ideas to use watermelon whites.

Add whites to a:

1. Smoothie

2. Soup

3. Dip or Chutney

4. Lasagna

5. Pasta sauce, Pasta veggies

6. Daal or Sambar

7. Paav Bhaji

8. Dough

9. Curry

Tips:
1. You can refrigerate or freeze the whites, because chances are that you won't be able to use them all at once. 

If you use the whites in some other way, do let me know. 

Till then, cheerio!

Sweet Potato Snack

When looking for long lasting vegetables during this pandemic, I added sweet potatoes to my list. While potatoes are our all time favorites, sweet potatoes also provide a nice change.

Sweet potatoes come in a huge variety. In India, we generally get the white fleshed ones. In the US, I buy the orange fleshed ones. 

Sweet potatoes are quite rich in Vitamin A. I use them roasted and also for halwa (a dessert).The recipe I'll tell you about can be served as a snack. Paired with a soup, it can double up as light dinner. This is also a vrat (fast)-friendly snack. 

Sweet Potatoes. Picture Credit : Pixabay 

Serves 3 

Ingredients:

Sweet Potatoes - 3-4

Ginger - 1 tablespoon crushed

Green Chillies - 3-4

Oil of your choice- 1 tablespoon

Cumin Seeds, Salt, Black Pepper, Lemon juice, Coriander leaves.

Way To Go:

1. Wash and peel sweet potatoes. Cube them.

2. In a kadahi (wok), take oil or ghee.

3. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add green chillies and ginger paste. Sauté for 30 seconds and add cubed sweet potatoes.

4. Add salt and mix well. Cover and cook on a low-medium flame. Keep turning.

5. After the sweet potatoes are done, add black pepper, lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves. Mix well. I let the coriander leaves cook a little as I'm avoiding raw stuff during this time.

Look at the beautiful color!

Tips:

1. Add chaat masala or top with a green chutney. I like coriander-gooseberry chutney or coriander-mint-raw mango chutney. 

Dry Kale Sabzi

When it comes to superfoods, kale is right up there in the greens pantheon. I have to admit, I don't buy kale too often. Even when I buy it, it lies around in the fridge for 7-10 days and then I cook it just in time to retrieve it from the waste graveyard. 

This time around too, the leaves had started turning a tad yellow. I knew I had to act fast or soon it would be a lost battle. Then I cooked it with the recipe I use for mooli (radish) leaves. It worked wonders!

Look at the luscious green! Pic Courtesy: Pixabay. 

Ingredients: 

Kale leaves

Oil - I like to use mustard

Spices like asafoetida (heeng), mustard seeds, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt.
Sifted gram flour (besan) - According to taste. I generally use around 2-3 tablespoons.

Way To Go:

1. Wash the leaves well. Chop both the leaves and stalks. 

2. Pressure cook using very little water. If using IP, pressure cook for 3-4 minutes. Natural release.

3. In oil, add heeng, mustard seeds and chopped kale leaves. 

4. Add spices - turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. 

5. When slightly done, add a tablespoon or two of besan (gram flour). Keep sautéing. 

6. In the end, add amchoor powder. You can replace amchoor with lemon juice or amla powder.

The sabzi turned out to be so yummy that even my skeptic husband couldn't help appreciating it. I ate a bowlful as my dinner. 

But the best part? I wouldn't hesitate buying another bunch of kale again! 

Asparagus-Carrot Soup

Do you ever feel that though there is a humungous variety of food in this world, we all fall in a rut and ever so often, can't figure out what to cook? 

Many of us go for our weekly grocery and pick out the same veggies week after week! So for a change, I wanted to do my grocery shopping with a fresh pair of eyes. I saw a bunch of asparagus, which I don't cook often, and in it went in my basket.

My friend Pooja shared this recipe with me. Since then, I use asparagus for a hearty soup. 

Asparagus that we see in the veggie section is the young shoot of the plant. Asparagus is packed with nutrition. It is low in calories and high in fibre. It's also rich in vitamins A, C and K and folates. Though available the whole year round, they're abundant in spring.

How to pick good shoots?

Pick the shoots which are firm, compact and yet tender. They shouldn't be limp. 

The tips should be closed. The spears can be thick or thin. Here, the deciding factor should be the freshness and your requirement. 

For a soup, thick stems should be fine as they give you more goodness per bunch, especially if they are priced per bunch. 

Green Goodness! Pic Credit: Pixabay

How to prep the shoots? 

I wondered how much of the stem to use. If the bottom part looks woody, snap that off. The rest can be used. Research showed that the stem can be lightly peeled too.

Now for the soup.... 

Ingredients:

Asparagus - 250 gms
Carrot -1medium

Onion - 1 medium

Garlic cloves - 4-5

Masoor lentils (washed, soaked for a few minutes)-2 tablespoons

Salt, pepper, lime juice, any other spices that you like!

Way to go:

• Dice asparagus and carrot.
• In a little butter/ oil/ ghee, sauté chopped garlic. After a minute, add onions.
• When the onions are golden brown, add asparagus, water, and salt. 
• If doing in IP, pressure cook for 2 minutes. If in a pressure cooker, cook for 1-2 whistles. 
• I use Blendtec for blending and there's no need to strain. If there's a stray fibre that isn't blended, I just take it our while drinking the soup.
• Add salt, black pepper, and lemon juice.

Asparagus-Carrot Soup Served With Sweet Potato- Beetroot Chips

Tip:

• I also added jiravan - a kind of Indori chaat masala. You can add regular chaat masala. I like to play with spices to make things more interesting for my daughter. The first time around, she didn't like the soup. Hence, I added some spices this time. She said that she wouldn't mind drinking it again. It was a victory of sorts :)
• You can make this soup with just asparagus. It tastes delicious that way too but I liked it with a carrot.