Saag is a spicy scrumptious treat. You can enjoy this hot and spicy dish in cool winter nights with makkai ki roti, uh the combo tastes heaven in those chilly nights for sure. But the best thing about this dish is that you can also freeze it and enjoy it later on. It freezes well and once you want to enjoy it, just give it a tarka and it’s ready.

This is the sarsoon ka phool or mustard flower. The saag we are using in this recipe is from this plant, the leafy green part of mustard plant. Their fields look so amazing, bright yellow flowers on top of leafy green plants just about everywhere looks fresh and enchanting- have a soothing effect both on eyes and mind.

All that hard work and wait pays off beautifully, in the form of this flavoursome, spicy, aromatic dish. It is best when enjoyed with makkai ki roti and lassi otherwise, simple chappati would be fine as well.

This is my Mitti ki handi, take out yours :p For best desi flavours and traditional touch, the saag is given Tarka in this Mitti ki handi. Cook your saag in regular pot and then for tarka bit, use this handi.

What you need

Sarsoon ka Saag——————- 1 kg with its stems, if they are not too hard.
Palak/ Spinach——————– 1/2 kg
Baatho—————————- 250 g
Desi Ghee————————- 3/4 cup
Tomatoes————————- 2-3 blanched
Salt——————————- 1tsp or according to need
Red Chli Powder—————— 1 tsp
Green Chillies——————— 5-6 chopped
Garlic cloves———————- 4-5 finely chopped
Onion—————————– 1 finely chopped
Ginger—————————- 1 inch piece, thinly sliced
Cumin (Zeera)——————– 1 tsp
Red Chili Whole——————- 6-8
Haldi—————————— 1/2 tsp
Sugar—————————– 1 tsp
Makkai ka aata——————- 1/4 cup or according to need

How it’s made

1. Finely chop saag (green leaves of mustard), spinach and baatho.
2. Now rinse their leaves very nicely because there is a lot of dirt and mud trapped in the leaves.
3.  Now boil your saag, palak, batho and green chilies together in one large pan till everything gets soft and tender, add in enough water to make it nice and soft. Once it is soft and tender, dry as much water as you can, it shouldn’t be watery at all.
4. Mash or ghootofy your saag/palak and batho with a help of a wooden spoon or a hand blender. Ghootofying with wooden spoon can be tiring but very rewarding (I ask my cook to cook the saag for me uptil this stage hehehehehe evil grin 😀 )
5. Note: You can freeze your saag at this stage for 2-3 months. Do the remaining steps once you want to serve the dish.
6. Anyways, the difficult part’s over, now is the easy peesy lemon sqeasy bit.
7. Take a handi  (preferably), Mitti ki handi if you have one and throw in ghee. Desi ghee is preferred but if you don’t have it, banaspati ghee can also be used.
8. Now add in onions, Sautee onions and add ginger, garlic, cumin, Whole Red chliies and give everything a good mix.
9. Now add in blanched or de-skinned tomatoes, Red chili powder, turmeric powder, sugar and salt. But be careful, spinach is already salty so, go easy on the salt, you can always add more once it’s done.
10. Once they have been mixed nicely, throw in the saag mix and cook for another 5-6 minutes, keep stirring lest it should burn.
11. Once done, dissolve makkai ka aata in 1/2 cup of water and add into the saag for thickness and flavour.
12. Cover nicely and cook it on a low dum flame for further 15-20 minutes.

Makkai Ki Roti

What you need

Makkai ka Aata————————- 2 cups
Regular Aata/flour———————- 1 cup
Salt————————————- 1 tsp
Ghee———————————— 2 tbsp

How it’s made

1. Kneed dough/aata with lukewarm water and let it sit for half an hour, covered with a slightly damp clothe.
2. Now take two cellophene bags or I use Dawn Parathay’s transparent paper.
3. Role your aata in between two plastic paper sheets, role them as thin as you like, you can make pretty neat, thin roti with this technique and cook them on a slightly greased pan,20-25 seconds on each side.
4. Apply ghee on both sides and your Makkai ki roti is done!

Serve your Sarsoon ka saag with makkai ki roti and lassi and enjoy is sizzling hot with a dalop of unsalted butter on top, yum!