Winter is here in India and it doesn't seem to leave where I stay in Australia. Best part of the winter is the treats it brings along. Each season has a special dish a special veggie and fruit. It is mangoes for the summer. Carrots and greens best denote the winter. Greens come in all variety mustard, spinach, Amaranth and sorrel. Each full of Iron. While sorrel or gongura is famous in South, Mustard or sarson is the greens ,which speaks to you up north. Saag or Sarson ka saag is a dish we have all grown up with.
Households all across Punjab serve Makki di roti and sarson da saag during winter. It is a dish which comes from rustic roots and flavors closest to heart.
It has an earthen taste. Simple flavor and hearty meal makes everyone happy. Traditional meal has loads of white butter or ghee. You may also use oil if choosing to go vegan.
Sarso ka saag or mustard leaves curry is a great way to have greens. We cook it along with other greens like bathua, palak. Serve this with maize flatbread or Makke ki roti. Thankfully we get mustard so easily here too.
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Bollywood connection
You can know about the popularity of this dish with this famous punchline from Amrish Puri. "Sarson da Saag te Makki di Roti.. Kurta Lamba te Voti Chhoti".
This line from DDLJ is all about memories of cold winters of Punjab.
Greens are great for Iron and simple to cook too.
You can simply blanch and store it over weekend. Temper and you are ready for a meal instantly.
Ingredients for sarso ka saag
The core ingredient is sarson , i.e. mustard leaves. You can cook them with some water in a pot(covered with lid) or in a pressure cooker.
Boiled mustard greens, tomato puree, ginger-garlic-chilly, chopped onions and boiled spinach.
Step-by-step pictures for sarson ka saag
1.In another pan,heat oil or ghee for tempering.Add chopped onion,ginger,garlic,green chillies cook until the onion turns pink.
2. Add chopped tomatoes to this along with salt.
3. .Cook till tomatoes soften
4.Add the boiled/blanched spinach and sarson
5. Mix well and let it cook in the open pan.Once it has soften,mash it with a hand masher or hand blender
6. Optionally, you may choose to add 2 tablespoon makai flour (unrefined corn flour) , this will help to thicken the mix.
Step by step pictures for makki di roti
- Take makki atta (flour) , add warm water to it
2. Knead the makki ka atta into a smooth dough, if the dough is not smooth then the roti will break while rolling out.
3.Roll out the roti on a grease / baking paper
4. Heat a griddle / tava , start cooking the roti
5. Flip it once cooked from one side
6. Cook the roti on the gas flame directly, you may cook on the tava if you do not have gas cooktop.Once cooked, brush with ghee,serve warm makki roti and saag.
Read the recipe of Saag and makki di roti
sarso ka saag makki ki roti recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for sarso da saag recipe
- 4 cup boiled sarso/mustard leaves
- 1 cup boiled palak/spinach leaves
- 2 tbsp. oil
- 2 tbsp. makai ka atta/maize flour optional
Tempering ingredients for punjabi saag recipe
- 1 cup tamatar/tomatoes
- 1 large pyaz/onion
- 1 tablespoon adrak/ginger
- 2 cloves lassan/garlic chopped
- 1 large hari mirchi/green chillies
- 2 tablespoon ghee/ mustard oil if vegan
- salt as per taste
For Makke ki roti
- 2 cups makai ka atta/maize flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- water for kneading
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Add mustard and spinach leaves.
- Now,add maize flour and mix well.
- Cook for 15 mins. Keep it aside.
For tempering:
- In another pan,heat oil or ghee for tempering.Add chopped onion,ginger,garlic,green chillies cook until the onion turns pink.
- Add chopped tomatoes to this along with salt.Cook till tomatoes soften.
- Add the boiled/blanched spinach and sarson
- Mix well and let it cook in the open pan.Once it has soften,mash it with a hand masher or hand blender
- Optionally, you may choose to add 2 tablespoon makai flour (unrefined corn flour) , this will help to thicken the mix.
- Serve hot with makke ki roti, mango pickle,buttermilk.
For Makke ki roti
- Take makki flour, add warm water to it.Knead into a smooth dough, if the dough is not smooth then the roti will break while rolling out.
- Roll out the roti on a grease / baking paper.Heat a griddle / tava , start cooking the roti
- Flip it once cooked from one side.Cook the roti on the gas flame directly, you may cook on the tava if you do not have gas cooktop
- Once cooked, brush with ghee,serve warm makki roti and saag.
Notes
Or, you can pressure cook them with 2 cups of water for 1 whistle. You can mix little aata/wheat flour if makke ki roti, this will make it little easier to cook.
Similar recipes
Looking for more iron-rich greens? Indian recipes are full of greens. Try these
- Saag paneer/Palak paneer
- Gujarati Undhiyu
- Sindhi style Sata bhajiyun
- Sindhi sai bhaji/dal palak
- Vegan palak soup
Click here to see more Punjabi recipes.
FAQs
Makki flour in english is called cornflour . This cornflour is different is the coursely ground flour and not the fine white cornflour that we use to thicken the gravy.
Makki flour is also know as maize flour in english.
Meenakshi Khaturia says
Superb VL try it,tnx for recipe
Gs says
Hi could you please tell how much would be raw sarso & palak in grams/by weight.Ill purchase accordingly. & do we have tobtake the raw vegetable first measured in cups or do we boil & then measure in cups?
bhavana bhatia says
Hi there, you will need close to 500gms of sarson and 125 gms of spinach/palak leaves.
the measurements mentioned in the recipe is the contents after boiling them
The spices and tomatoes can be adjusted as per your taste..
Thanks