Sarson ka Saag
Mustard greens cooked down for over an hour, mashed rather than blended, thickened with maize flour and finished with a ghee tadka.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 1h 30m
- Total
- 1h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
Method
Frozen chopped greens and a pressure cooker. Twenty minutes under pressure gets you most of the way, though the flavour stays greener and sharper than a long simmer.
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 750 g | Strip the leaves and wash them in three changes of water 15m Grit hides in the crinkles. Lift the leaves out, do not pour the water off. | Simmer the greens with ginger and chilli until they collapse entirely 1h 15m An hour and a quarter, lid ajar. You are cooking out the mustard's sharpness. | Mash the greens against the side of the pot, then rain in the maize flour 20m Mash, do not blend. A blender emulsifies air in and turns it a flat, bright green. | Stir the tadka through the saag and let it simmer together for 10 more minutes 12m The last simmer is not optional. It is when the fried onion stops tasting separate. | |
| 250 g | |||||
| 100 g | |||||
| 5cm piece | |||||
| 8 cloves | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 2 cups | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 3 tbsp | |||||
| 4 tbsp | Fry onion, garlic and tomato in ghee until jammy and dark at the edges 12m | ||||
| 1 | |||||
| 6 cloves | |||||
| 2cm piece | |||||
| 1 | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| a slab | |||||
-
Strip the leaves and wash them in three changes of water
15m- mustard greens 750 g
- spinach 250 g
- bathua (optional) 100 g
Grit hides in the crinkles. Lift the leaves out, do not pour the water off.
-
Simmer the greens with ginger and chilli until they collapse entirely
1h 15m- from 1 Strip the leaves and wash them in three changes of water
- ginger 5cm piece
- garlic 8 cloves
- green chillies 4
- water 2 cups
- salt 2 tsp
An hour and a quarter, lid ajar. You are cooking out the mustard's sharpness.
-
Mash the greens against the side of the pot, then rain in the maize flour
20m- from 2 Simmer the greens with ginger and chilli until they collapse entirely
- maize flour 3 tbsp
Mash, do not blend. A blender emulsifies air in and turns it a flat, bright green.
-
Fry onion, garlic and tomato in ghee until jammy and dark at the edges
12m- ghee 4 tbsp
- onion 1
- garlic 6 cloves
- ginger 2cm piece
- tomato 1
- red chilli powder 1 tsp
-
Stir the tadka through the saag and let it simmer together for 10 more minutes
12m- from 3 Mash the greens against the side of the pot, then rain in the maize flour
- from 4 Fry onion, garlic and tomato in ghee until jammy and dark at the edges
- butter a slab
The last simmer is not optional. It is when the fried onion stops tasting separate.
| 500 g | Pressure cook the greens with ginger, garlic and chilli for 20 minutes 20m Use only a cup of water. Frozen greens release plenty of their own. | Mash in the cooker, then thicken with maize flour over the heat 10m Cook the flour through for at least 5 minutes or it tastes raw. | Stir the tadka in and simmer 5 minutes 6m | |
| 500 g | ||||
| 4cm piece | ||||
| 6 cloves | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 1 cup | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 3 tbsp | ||||
| 4 tbsp | Fry onion and garlic in ghee until deep brown 10m | |||
| 1 | ||||
| 6 cloves | ||||
| 1 tsp | ||||
-
Pressure cook the greens with ginger, garlic and chilli for 20 minutes
20m- frozen chopped spinach 500 g
- frozen chopped mustard greens or spring greens 500 g
- ginger 4cm piece
- garlic 6 cloves
- green chillies 3
- water 1 cup
- salt 2 tsp
Use only a cup of water. Frozen greens release plenty of their own.
-
Mash in the cooker, then thicken with maize flour over the heat
10m- from 1 Pressure cook the greens with ginger, garlic and chilli for 20 minutes
- maize flour 3 tbsp
Cook the flour through for at least 5 minutes or it tastes raw.
-
Fry onion and garlic in ghee until deep brown
10m- ghee 4 tbsp
- onion 1
- garlic 6 cloves
- red chilli powder 1 tsp
-
Stir the tadka in and simmer 5 minutes
6m- from 2 Mash in the cooker, then thicken with maize flour over the heat
- from 3 Fry onion and garlic in ghee until deep brown
What the long cook is actually doing
Mustard greens contain glucosinolates, which is where the peppery bite comes from. Chop them and an enzyme converts those compounds into the pungent mustard-oil molecules that make the raw leaf sting. Heat destroys the enzyme and drives off what it has already made, so the first twenty minutes taste harsh and the ninetieth tastes sweet and mineral. There is no shortcut for that; it is a function of time at temperature. The maize flour goes in at the end, gelatinising to hold the water the greens have released.
Notes
- Salt early. It draws water out of the leaves so they collapse rather than fry.
- A wooden churner beats any machine. You want streaks and texture, not purée.
- It is better the next day and better again the day after. Make more than you need.