Recipe: Sarson Ka Saag & Makki Ki Roti

When winter truly arrives, and I spy sarson ka saag in the vegetable market, I literally begin to drool. There is no yummier combo than mustard greens with corn rotis on a chilly winter night.

A favourite all over north India, I have dined on fabulous versions of the seasonal buttery greens in many diverse places, while travelling. But I remember the fried garlic garnished saag I had with piping hot makkai rotis at a small eatery on pretty Mussoorie's Mall road on a cold evening in January many years ago. It was a divine meal.

My version of Sarson Ka Saag and Makki Ki Roti is an adaptation of that.

Sarson Ka Saag and Makki Ki Roti

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

For the saag

• 1 bundle or less spinach, about 250 gm, tender spinach preferable
• 1 large bundle sarson ka saag or mustard greens, about 500 gm
• Leaves of 8-10 sprigs bathua or wild spinach/pigsweed
• 10 pods garlic, crushed roughly
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1-2 long green chillies, cut lengthwise
• 1-inch piece ginger
• 1 tsp rai or mustard seeds
• 1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• ½ tsp hing or asafetida
• Pinch haldi or turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Dash mustard oil
• Dash sugar
• Water
• Salt to taste, about 1½ tsp
• 1-2 tbsp white butter or else a dash cream
• Pickled baby onions

For the makkai rotis

• 4 cups makai aata (not corn flour or corn starch)
• 2 cups or less regular aata or wheat flour + extra to sprinkle while rolling 
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Pinch salt
• Hot water and then some room temperature water
• A mixture of ghee and oil for frying the rotis

Method

For the Sarson Ka Saag

• Use only the leaves of the sarson ka saag and the bathua, no stems (please see the note below).
  Chop all the greens.
  Keep aside.
• Heat the oil and add the jeera, rai, hing in a large saucepan or kadhai over medium heat.
  Allow the rai to crackle for a few seconds and add the garlic, onions and saute for 5-8 minutes, or more, till well fried.
  Add the tomato and the ginger and fry for another 5 minutes.
  Add the chopped bathua, spinach, sarson ka saag and cook for about 10-15 minutes till done and any excess water the greens gave off dries up.
• Take off heat and cool.
  Grind half of the cooked greens mixture with a little water in the blender.
  Return the ground portion to the rest of the sabzi, add the green chillies, salt, sugar, a little water if needed and the dash of mustard oil and cook for another 5-6 minutes and take off heat.
• Garnish with the white butter before serving.

For the Makkai Roti

• In an aata sanne wala bartan or large bowl, mix the aatas and add the salt, ghee and slowly add the hot water and knead the dough together.
  The hot water helps soften the makkai aata.
  After the dough starts coming together, add more room temperature water, if required.
  The dough should be hard and slightly crumbly.
  Cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes.
• Heat up a tawa over medium heat.
• Sprinkle flour on your rolling board or belan.
  Take a ball of dough of about 1 inch diameter and dampen mildly.
  Roll out into a circle of 5-inch diameter to paratha thickness -- it is a little tough to roll and needs extra effort and don't worry if the shape is not entirely kosher ie perfectly round.
• Heat the makkai roti on the tawa, till tiny red dots appear and flip so the other side also gains red dots.
  Then lather 1-2 tsp of the ghee-oil mixture over it on both sides and fry for 1-2 minutes more and take off tawa.
• Repeat the process for the balance dough and it will yield about 18 makkai rotis.
• Serve hot off the tawa with the hot garnished saag and pickled onions.
  The makkai rotis cool pretty fast and like naans get chewy and tough to tear when cold.

Zelda's Note: Traditionalists, while making Sarson Ka Saag will retain the tender parts of the stem too, since they add extra characteristic flavour. That will add bulk ot the vegetable ie increase quantity. Since the stems can be a mouthful, chop and fry the stems separately and grind with the portion of saag you plan to grind.

A little shalgam or turnip can add a additional taste. Chop half a peeled turnip very fine and cook with the saag.

Consider adding a little white butter while cooking the saag for more added taste. And then again while serving.

Purists will make the makki rotis without the addition of regular aata. You can attempt that by patting out the rotis with your hands as best you can (they will be a little crumbly) or pressing them inside a plastic sheet and then frying them.  

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