Five green leafy recipes for winter

‘Sarso ka saag’, ‘methi parantha’, ‘palak paneer’, all green leafy recipes, make a Delhiites mouth water.The fondness of Delhiite for green leafy recipes, puzzles non vegetarians living in other parts of the world. Delhiites talk a lot about food; and mostly they talk about vegetarian food. Read about vegetable recipes for kids in this post.

Green leafy recipes are nutritious and affordable. These leaves have anti ageing properties; lots of vitamins and minerals; and they are also known a ‘hot food’ best for winter climate. Largely people refrain from preparing  green leafy recipes as children do not like the bland or bitter taste.
Over the ages the Delhites have developed different green leafy recipes where the leaves are camouflaged (mixed with other ingredients) so as to make them more palatable. Dishes of five green leaves are popularly prepared at home and restaurants.
Bathua/Pigweed: The pigweed used to grow very liberally in the past, now you can find them in parks. Poor labours pick the leaves in the parks, and others buy it from the vegetable vendors. Bathua is palatable when sauteed in oil with some spices – You can blanch Bathua and ad to curd to make a salad for dinner – Mix the chopped bathua with soaked and ground split chickpea. Add spices as required, make them into small ball, flatten it and deep fry. Have it with sauce.
Palak/Spinach: A leaf with anti aging properties and iron content, spinach is a staple dish of Delhi. Blanch the spinach and make it to a paste, saute in oil with spices and cottage cheese (paneer) cubes – Palak paste can also be mixed with idli batter to make ‘green idlis’.
Sarso ka Saag/Mustard Greens: Mustard greens make tasty dishes because of the pungent taste. Experts say that Mustard green are good for those with choleric temperament.  Chop the leaves and at the same time boil and cube potatoes. Saute the leaves and potatoes with spices.
Methi ka Saag/Fenugreek Leaves: Plucking the tiny leaves of Methi requires lot of patience, most of the housewives and grandmas pluck the leaves while basking the sun. Women sit on foldable cots outside the ir houses with a bundle of fenugreek in front of them. When the tedious process of plucking the leaves is done, there will be just a bowl full of methi leaves and a huge cluster of empty branchlets. Wash the methi leaves thoroughly as long as you are satisfied that the leaves are clean. Chop the leaves and mix it with wheat flour, turmeric powder and salt. Nice parthas can be made, top it with butter – Saute the leaves with boiled potatoes, skinned and chopped tomatoes and spices. Saute for a long time to get the best result.
Amaranth/Chaulai Saag: Amaranth leaves is sparingly used in Delhi, they are a good substitute for spinach.
A mixed treat: Clean and chop all the five leaves, and pressure cook with lentils and tomatoes. Temper the cooked mix with mustard seeds, spices and dried red chillies. Children will love to have them with Parantha/Rice.

35 thoughts on “Five green leafy recipes for winter

  1. Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!

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