Palak Saag and Makki Ki Roti are the staple food of Punjab, India. Traditionally it uses a lot of onions but this Jaini Palak Saag recipe is without onions and garlic, perfect for Jains.

Ingredients

Method

1. Separate palak stems from the leaves. Wash the leaves a few times because sometimes they contain a lot of dirt.
2. Peel and chop the shalgam coarsely.
3. Boil palak, shalgam with green chillies and half of ginger in a large pan with about 1/2 inch of water. Once the water starts boiling reduce the heat.
4. Cook for about 15 minutes. The leaves will settle down and reduce in volume. Turn off the heat and let it cool.



5. Blend the palak mixture finely once it cools down.



6. Blend tomatoes finely and keep aside.
7. Mix corn flour in one cup of water. Add yogurt and whisk again. Keep aside. If you don’t have makki flour, you can also use besan.





8. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a wok. Add half the jeera and wait till it crackles. Now add haldi, half the red chilli powder, coriander powder and mix.





9. Add tomato puree and salt and cook till oil starts to separate.





10. Add the yogurt mixture and stir constantly till it starts to boil. Cook for 5 more minutes.





11. Now add the palak puree to the wok and cook on slow heat for about 30 minutes.







12. Prepare chaunk: Heat ghee in a small pan. Add the remaining cumin seeds and heeng. Wait till cumin seeds crackle. Add whole red chillies and fry them. Add red chilli powder and mix.
13. Garnish Jaini Palak Saag with chaunk and julienned ginger. Serve hot with Makki Ki Roti.

Notes

1. It’s very important to add corn meal to the Jaini Palak saag. It works as a binding agent and gives a nice smooth texture.
2. Turnip gives saag a bit of body and sweetens it a bit. You can also use broccoli instead of turnip.
3. You can also add methi and bathua leaves to this saag in small amount.

Summary

Recipe Name

Jaini Palak Saag

Author Name

Ruchi Garg

Published On

2016-12-05

Total Time

1H

Average Rating

5 Based on 3 Review(s)