Real sarson ka saag is a weekend job: a mountain of mustard greens, spinach and bathua, washed, chopped and cooked down for hours. The tin gets you to the same place on a weeknight. What you add at the end is what makes it taste like home.
Ingredients
- 1 tin KTC sarson ka saag (800g)
- 3 tbsp Amul pure ghee, plus more to serve
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced, and a thumb of ginger, cut into matchsticks
- 2 green chillies, chopped
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 2 tbsp maize flour (makki ka atta)
- For the roti: 300g maize flour, warm water, a pinch of salt
- White butter or salted butter and jaggery to serve
Method
- Tip the saag into a pan and warm it gently over a low flame with a splash of water. Stir the maize flour into a little cold water, add it to the saag and cook for 10 minutes so it thickens and loses any tinny edge.
- Make the tarka. Heat the ghee in a small pan, add the onion and cook until deep golden, then the garlic, ginger and green chilli for another minute.
- Take the tarka off the heat, stir in the chilli powder, and pour the whole lot over the saag. Simmer together for five minutes.
- For the roti, mix the maize flour with salt and enough warm water to make a soft dough. Pat each ball flat between your palms or between two sheets of cling film, as maize dough will not roll.
- Cook the rotis on a hot tawa, a minute or two each side, pressing the edges with a cloth so they puff. Brush with ghee.
- Serve the saag in a bowl with a spoon of ghee melting on top, the rotis, a slab of butter and a piece of jaggery on the side.
Cook's notes
If the saag tastes flat, it needs salt and a squeeze of lemon, not more chilli. Any left over is very good stirred through hot rice with a fried egg on top.