Sarson ka saag

[cteavin]

Hi,

Mustard greens have come into season and I've washed 6 giant bunches of mustard greens. After tearing off the soft outer leaf I'm always left with the harder stalk. I was wondering if there was anything I could do with it, any other application or recipe some could suggest.

Cheers,

[gfweb]

Never done it with mustard greens but I have sauteed a number of harder parts of greens in butter.

I do it till they get brown...almost black ...and they become sweet and nutty in flavor. Works great w romaine.

[Mottmott]

They're good in vegetable soups, particularly pureed soup. If not pureeing, I sometimes saute them first.

[cteavin]

Soups. Really? I'd think the flavor would be too strong. Well, I went through 8 pounds of mustard greens, so I have enough stems to try a soup and a sauté. :-)

[cteavin]

I ended up finely slicing half and fried them in sesame oil in a wok with a bit of soy sauce until well reduced. I spread this in a thin layer across the bottom of several plates and topped with poached salmon. It was delicious.

[Jenni]

What are you making from the leaves? If you are making the dish sarson ka saag, then you can very finely chop the stems and use them in it. Make sure there are still plenty more leaves than stems though. Because of the long-ish cooking time and the fact that you mash it into a coarse puree, the stems work fine.

Also, there is a kashmiri dish called haak which when made with sarson does utilise some of the stem because you keep the leaves whole. For this you have to cut the stem before it gets to thick and tough and just keep the slimmer bit. It's very good.

Slightly jealous that you are getting sarson still. Here the season has ended, and even the other greens are starting to get rather pricy and less luscious. Summer must be coming....

[cteavin]

Thanks for the suggestions, Jenni. The season will come to an end pretty soon here, so I aim to freeze a bunch for summer. Sarson Ka Sagg is one of my all time favorite dishes, especially with the corn chapatti. Because it's warming up here I'll be starting idli production in my kitchen soon (maybe my second favorite thing -- and the fried left overs, the third.) ;-)

[heidih]

Thanks for bringing up the topic. My stems are not that thick so I will chop finely per Jenni. This is the mustard I have - is that what we are talking about? Regardless it has a nice bite and texture so I will give it a go along with the cornflour roti.

[Jenni]

Heidh, yes those frilly leaves look familiar! Bear in mind that for saag you cook it until tender and then mash it with a greens masher (looks a bit like a churn for making butter - can also use blender or stick blender but be sure to keep it coarse and don't make it like soup) so texture will not be as it is now.

[cteavin]

That looks great Heidih. Post pics of your finished Sarson Ka Sagg, a kind of before and after pic. ;-)