Being from Punjab, I totally love saag. It may not sound or look appetizing but take my word the taste will pleasantly surprise you. It is the one dish that defines winter cooking in a Punjabi Kitchen. As a child I never liked saag, not many kids like it when they are young (because they eat with their eyes). Once I was at the house of my mother’s friend and she offered me saag. To make a good impression and not wanting to insult her though, I hesitantly tried and to my surprise I really enjoyed the saag with a tadka (tempering) of ginger and garlic with lots of butter.
Saag is generic name for cooked greens, unless specified as sarson ka saag (mustard greens), palak ka saag ( spinach greens). You will be surprised no restaurant here has saag on their menu, if they do, chances are they are fooling the public with palak ka saag (spinach greens only). Although, it can be made with any dark leafy green traditionally, it is made with a mix of sarson(mustard), methi (fenugreek), choulai (amaranth) and a milder tasting spinach is only added to reduce the bitterness of other greens. It is often prepared in huge quantity, partly because it keeps well in the fridge for a week and tastes better the next day and largely because it is a bit laborious work to clean and chop all the greens.
Mustard stems have tough skin that need to be peeled, which along with other greens are washed thoroughly and chopped fine. Once this is done they are gently simmered in a pot until soft. Close to the end of cooking, saag is pressed with a madhani {( butter churner or wooden hand blender)picture below} and while doing that maize flour is added to give a thick silky texture. Saag is never made smooth but the coarse texture never appealed me, so I prefer using handy gadgets like food processor or immersion blender to do the job of madhani. And also, I use pressure cooker to cook saag which reduces the cooking time without ruining its nutritional value.
The version of saag I am bringing you today is made with Gai lan, which is an Asian green (more readily available in Richmond than mustard) from the plant family of broccoli and Kale. Its high in beta carotene and contains folate, Vitamin E, iron and calcium. Similar to mustard its thick stems are peeled to remove tough outer layer and has slightly bitter flavor, that’s why I have added spinach to balance the flavors. A tempering of sauteed ginger, garlic and onion (optional) is added at the end to a small portion of saag that has to be served. The remainder can be frozen or stored in fridge for up to a week and all you need to refresh is to reheat with a tadka. The golden hue makki ki roti is a perfect match to the deep green saag with some butter on top!
Enjoy a punjabi meal!
GAI LAN SAAG
Serves: 6
You will need a 3 liter pressure cooker. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can use a pot, ensure that you add sufficient water to cook the greens meltingly tender for about 2 -3 hours.
Ingredients:
- 1 packet (1ooo g) gai lan
- 1 bunch ( 250 g cleaned) spinach
- 1/4 cup maize flour
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 5 hot green chilli
- 1/4 cup water to cook greens
Tadka/ Tempering:
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1″ piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped onion (optional)
- 2 tbsp butter/1 tbsp oil or 3 tbsp desi ghee
To serve:
- maize chapatti
- butter
- raw or pickled ginger
- radish salad
Method:
- Clean and chop the greens (leaves, stems and buds) with green chilli. Put them in a pressure cooker with 1/4 cup water (push then down with a metal spoon).
- Close pressure cooker and heat it on high. Once the pressure develops (you will hear the whistle), reduce heat to medium and cook under pressure.
- After 20 minutes. turn off the heat and let the pressure come down. ( this will take about 10 minutes).
- Open the lid, put the maize flour and using a madhani, press and mash the greens. Add hot water as well. Alternately, coarsely process the greens in a food processor.
- Transfer back the greens to pressure cooker ( if processor was used) and place it on heat. Now add flour and hot water. Give it a good stir ensuring there are no lumps.
- Close the lid and cook for 10 minutes so that the flour is not raw and the greens are well blended.
- Meanwhile in a small pan heat oil/ butter or ghee. Add chopped ginger and garlic followed by onions (if using) and cook till it starts to brown and the smell spread across the kitchen.
- Add the tadka and salt to the cooked saag. Serve hot with makki/ maize flour chapatti, halves of radish and pieces of raw or pickled ginger.
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I think I was different as a kid, though I wont eat most of the veggies, i loved all types of greens. My mom used to prepare delicious stir fry and sometime mashed green too. Gailan is new to me. Haven’t tried yet. This dish looks simple and delicious and very healthy too..
You were a good kid, then. I use Gailan only because it is more easily available where I live and cheaper, too. It cooks faster, give more creamy texture and taste like mustard. You can also use rapini in place of gai lan.
At the first glance, I thought it looks like pesto. I was really surprised that Indians use Kale to make puree like this one too. Impressive, my dear!
I checked my bottle of pesto, the color looks the same but it has lot of oil on top. May be because of the color and butter, you are right it might look pesto to some. Anyway both are edible and damn delicious.
That seems to be right for me, I chose to eat food which looked good and there were mnay foood that I never tried. After I got married I tried everything at my inlaws house without giving a second thought. I felt I deprived myself all these years of good food. Your picture making me want to scoop with makki roti.
Its interesting that you suddenly started eating something which you never tried before. You certainly missed some good nutrition.
Saag is my absolute favourite my friend, thank you for your delicious recipe
Cheers
CCU
It looked like pesto to me at a glance but this is more interesting than pesto! I have never seen it before. Bookmarking, you have inspired me to try this! Thank you Balvinder.
Pesto to you ,too. Try then and then you will taste the difference.
This looks delicious for dipping!
hi balvinder- too bad i cant try this recipe, dont have the vital greens like gai lan, mustard and fenugreek leaves
the dish looks very much like our own mixture of greens – ( specific and not just any greens) and it is very flavorful too..
the only non green added is prawn (optional) and eaten with rice.
your roti also makes me hungry.- wanna have my breakfast now
Many people add meat in saag but punjabis don’t.. They only add paneer or eggs to spinach gravy.
Hi Balvinder, interesting recipe. Look delicious but I dare not use pressure cooker even thou I have one sitting in my kitchen. Hesitate to use the pressure cooker because of the whistle sound. LOL Your rotis look yummylicious.
I love gai lan soup, just boil with slice ginger, garlic and chicken breast meat until the gail lan is very soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Good for diet or light lunch with little bit of rice.
Best regards.
You should not be scared of using pressure cooker. I never let my cooker to whistle because my poor dog is scared of any shrieking sound and it won’t whistle if you reduce the heat just before it comes to full pressure (you will just know
Gai lan soup sounds interesting , will try sometime.
Enjoy your time off!
Nice! I have tasted it but never cooked it. Like to try it now as this post is inspiring. I am sure it would be a good combination with maze chapatti. I normally, microwave the greens uncovered, with a sprinkle of water to retain their colour. Very inviting pictures!
Oh this recipe of saag is easy that’s why I have given the pressure cooker way. I do microwave my greens sometime for stir fry’s but they don’t taste the same as this saag does.
I make a chicken saag with silverbeet/chard and strangely its one of my kids favourite dishes, although if I present saag on its own they usually rebel.
Any greens would be nice in saag and if your kids love it with chicken, its good. And I liked your saag (spinach saag) recipe that you posted last year.
I love gai lan ! I usually stir fry it with some minced garlic and ginger . Your saag looks like pesto
Such an interesting dish , this saag . Very appetizing photos as well 
I like saag, but then I love greens. This looks delicious–I love that you’ve presented it as a pressure cooker recipe, because we are always looking for recipes for ours.
Saag is one of our favorite dishes, especially with the addition of paneer. The addition of gai lan sounds delicious and will have to give it a try. Wonderful recipe.
Yes Gai lan is my favorite making saag with it is wonderful idea.
Greens with ginger and garlic? It sounds wonderful to me!!!
PS. your blog looks fabulous!!!!
So happy to see this recipe as Gailan is one of the most readily available vegetables here in China. My kids actually love it and looking for different ways to change it up a bit. Thanks for the inspiration. Take care, BAM
I’m open to try new things and I’d love to dip chapati in this. Sometimes most delicious things may not look “tasty” but I believe your words. I have so many dishes that taste amazing but not always look perfect – sadly. However, if you didn’t say anything I didn’t even think this doesn’t have appetizing look. It does look delicious!
I said that because most kids do not like the look of saag. I totally agree may dishes that do not look perfect just taste amazing.
I have never heard of this before but at first glance it looked delicious to me and I thought it was like pesto. I love anything green so I’m sure I would love this and of course adding a bit of butter always makes everything better.
This is comfort food to me. Just delicious!
I’ve never cooked greens in a pressure cooker and want to try it next time! I love this Punjabi meal and its absolutely perfect for these winter months!