Winters in Ahmedabad last for about 25 days. Technically from December 20 till Jan 14. There's something about the day Jan 14 that magically turns on the heat from the sun precisely every year.
India is one beautiful country where people partake their food depending upon the seasons. For ex oily fried stuff during the monsoons, cooling and mildly spicy dishes during the scorching summers and the foodstuffs that have a 'hot' element in them, during the winter to keep one warm during the cold season. For eg, the cooling jowar roti in summers is replaced by the bajra roti in winters, mundane choorma and besan laddus get replaced with the gond ladoos and methi or 'fenugreek' laddus in winters. Additionally there is generous use of garlic and root vegetables in the diet. That is how the enigmatic 'Undhiyu' dish took shape. With loads of roots, fenugreek muthia and ample use of green garlic and green chilies. Being in Gujarat, the winter whiffs for me comprise of divine aroma of methi thepla, fried lilva kachories, melting jaggery that gets shaped into the delectable chikki, dried ginger and black sesame and black gram getting shaped into adadiyu and kachariyu..It's amusing to note the variety of winter food made in Gujarat against the backdrop of a very short winter season. A paradox of the highest order!
As one traverses to the northern plains, this winter food undergoes lot of variation as the temperatures keep getting lower in the northern direction. One compulsory winter food from Punjab, that has sneaked into the pan Indian households is the quintessential 'sarson ka saag' and 'makke ki roti'.
I am lucky to have been born to a food connoisseur father who took painstaking efforts to find out the nitty gritty of distant dishes (all without the help of google). Because of him I have been relishing a number of Indian and continental delicacies since early years. So I have been eating Sarson ka Saag from my childhood days. At times made with modifications from different cooks namely my mother, father and later on myself.
Today however, I decided to follow a combination of recipes by two celebrity chefs, Kunal Kapoor and Sanjyot Keer. The result is now a validated method to cook Sarson ka saag that needs no further modification.
So combine as many greens as you can. Sarson leaves, palak leaves, bathua leaves, methi leaves and few twigs of mooli ke patte too if you happen to have them. Boil little water and cook a handful of soaked chanaa daal and few pieces of mooli or turnip before adding the washed mixture of all those greens. It will bring out the strong flavor of the saag. I like to eat all greens properly cooked, so gave it a whistle in the pressure cooker. Make the tempering with asli ghee..(with loads of it actually. There cant be a baked and 'healthy' version of Sarson ka Saag. Eat it once a season but cook it in its full glory!) ; Chopped garlic, chopped green chilies, two dry red chilies, grated ginger and cut onions. Add 2 tsp of makke ka aata to this tempering to act as a binder and then transfer of the cooked and pureed vegetables to this fragrant kadhai..Cook for 10 min adding salt and give a final tempering of ghee (again!) and red chili powder to give the final lustre to the recipe.. The taste and texture must be experienced first hand!
So here I am...Writing this blog with my tummy full with the Saag and the roti along with dollops of white butter and jaggery and freshly cut salad!! If only I were in a real Punjab farm, I would have gulped this down with a tall glass of lassi and would have snored away under some huge tree..
Happy winters everyone! No matter how short they are, enjoy in your own unique way.
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