Sarson Da Saag/ Spiced Mustard Greens

Winter conjures up some images in my vacant head, reminds me of North India, the chills, the smell the tandoor on our erstwhile neighbour's courtyard. (The little boy in their house was called 'Lovely' which I used to find very amusing!) Also some special dishes like Sarson da Saag, Makhai di Rotti and markets teaming with fresh peas, cauliflower and eggplants. Back then when we were in Amritsar, peas and caulifower used to become so cheap in winters that we could afford to eat them for the entire year. I remember getting peas for as little as Rs 2/ kilo and it was definitely not 1964! it was very much late 1990s. The converse is true for summers. Hardly any fresh vibrant vegetable in the market, most of veggies looked sad and of course extremely pricy as high as Rs 35 per kilo. May be that is why my father likes winter so much. Not to mention the Lodhri festival, where bon fires are lit on streets and we kids used to go and throw in some sesame seeds into the fire and eat a lot of Chikkis, Papa used to have a few drinks with our neighbour (ever heard of Patiala peg?, that it was) after the merry making, it was 'come back home' to dream of all chikkis and the hiss of burning sesame seeds.
Amongst all the wintery favorites in Punjab, probably Sarson da Saag will top the list. We all love it too. Besides, it is rather simple a dish with a lot of nutrition and flavours packed in. It goes best with Makhai di rotti, but then chapatis will do too. We had it with oodles of butter and Makhai di rotti



We will need

Mustard Greens 1 lb
Onion 1 medium diced
Ginger 1/4" grated
Garlic 3 cloves (big cloves grated , yes it is sort of garlicy because it is a winter dish)
Kashmiri Chilly powder 2 tsp
Coriander ground 1 tsp
Cummin ground 1 tsp
Garam masala 1/2 tsp
Salt
Tomato 1 small chopped
Oil 1 tbsp
Butter 3 tbsp
Jeera

Method:

• Wash chop the mustard greens.Microwave it for a minute or two till it wilts down slightly
• Heat oil and butter in a pan. Drop the jeera. Follow it with onions, ginger and garlic. Saute till the onions are traslucent.
• Add the chilly powder, dhania powder, jeera powder along the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy and oil oozes from the mixture.
• Now combine the wilted greens, adjust salt.
  
• Cook till the greens are soft but still bright green in colour. Finish with Garam masala.
  
• Serve hot with Corn rotti and extra wads of butter. If you prefer to make it figure friendly, just omit the butter, but the taste will not quite be the same

This recipe goes to the Monthly Mingle 29- Healthy Family Dinner hosted by Meeta

I am hoping, families love their greens!Especially the little ones