Sai bhaji

Dal and greens cooked to one smooth mass, and the name means green vegetables.

Vegan.

Ingredients

200 g chana dal, soaked 2 hours
600 g spinach, chopped
100 g dill, chopped
100 g sorrel or spring onion tops, chopped
1 aubergine, in small dice
2 carrots, in small dice
2 potatoes, in small dice
1 onion, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
a 4 cm piece of ginger, grated
3 green chillies, chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons oil

Method

DAL AND GREENS COOKED TO ONE SMOOTH MASS, AND THE NAME MEANS GREEN VEGETABLES. Its article gives both: sai bhaji is A SINDHI VEGETARIAN CURRY, CONSISTING OF DAL (LENTILS), PALAK (SPINACH) AND OTHER VEGETABLES, the name comes from SAI (MEANING 'GREEN') AND BHAJI (MEANING 'VEGETABLES'), and THE CURRY HAS A SMOOTH AND CREAMY TEXTURE ONCE COOKED. Smooth is the target, not an accident -- this is not a dal with greens in it but one thing.
SO EVERYTHING GOES IN TOGETHER AND IS MASHED AT THE END. No layering, no tempering poured over. The dal and the vegetables cook in one pot until none of them can be told apart.
THE GREENS ARE MORE THAN SPINACH AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT. Dill is the one people leave out and should not: a hundred grams in six hundred of spinach is what stops the dish tasting only of lentils. Its article notes it is CONSIDERED A RICH SOURCE OF NUTRITION DUE TO ITS MIX OF VARIOUS GREENS.
DICE THE HARD VEGETABLES SMALL. Aubergine, carrot and potato in centimetre dice, so they dissolve rather than survive.
FRY THE ONION, GARLIC, GINGER AND CHILLI FIRST, THEN EVERYTHING ELSE. Five minutes, then the tomatoes, then the dal and the vegetables and the greens all at once with water to cover.
FORTY MINUTES WITH THE LID ON, THEN TAKE IT OFF. The greens collapse to almost nothing and the dal breaks down. Uncovered at the end to drive off the water the spinach released.
MASH IT WITH A WOODEN MASHER, NOT A BLENDER. Coarse and thick. Blended it goes the colour of a puddle; mashed it keeps flecks of green.
SERVED WITH RICE OR WITH A FLATBREAD. Its article notes it is eaten through summers and winters, as a night and a day meal respectively, and is a household staple among the Sindhi diaspora.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes