This easy, traditional stew is ideal for late winter - Houston Chronicle

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Sai bhaji, which simply means green vegetable, is an age-old staple from the province of my vanished homeland, Sindh.

After the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, like many others, my parents migrated to India dearly holding onto food customs as tender memories of their exiled community. Not the most attractive of dishes but delicious when made right, sai bhaji is popular with Sindhis because it’s easy to prepare. It is also highly nutritious with an abundance of vegetables, can be prepared with a minimum of fat and is commonly eaten during winter. As with most Indian stews, every family has its own version, but for the most part, it consists of channa dal slow-cooked with root vegetables, leafy greens, herbs and aromatic spices.

I have mixed memories of sai bhaji as a child. Depending on the vegetables at hand and time allowed, my mother would fuss over it all day and lay out a luscious stew with notes of fennel, cardamom and ghee for dinner. Other times it was rushed into a pressure cooker and tasted more like vegetable gruel. I had abandoned cooking it for years, but lately I have been finding ways to bring back the magic of sai bhaji using local seasonal vegetables. Late winter and early spring is definitely the best time to make it when fresh fennel and fenugreek, which I consider integral to this dish, are in season.

SAI BHAJI

½ cup channa dal

2 stalks of green onion

1 stalk of celery

1 bulb fennel (reserve fronds for later)

1 large carrot

1 small sweet potato

8-10 cloves of garlic

2-inch piece of ginger

1 large serrano pepper

1 teaspoon dried ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground green cardamom

¼ cup olive oil or 3-4 tablespoons of butter or ghee

1 bunch spinach

1 bunch of dandelion greens

1 large tomato

1 cup of chopped fresh fenugreek leaves (see notes)

1 cup of chopped cilantro leaves

Chopped fennel fronds

Instructions: Soak the channa dal for 2-3 hours. Drain. Slice the entire green onion into tiny wheels. Chop the celery and fennel bulb into ½-inch pieces and without peeling, grate the carrot, sweet potato and ginger. Mince the serrano pepper.

In a large stockpot, combine the drained channa dal with celery, fennel, carrot, sweet potato, whole cloves of garlic, ginger, serrano, turmeric, black pepper, cumin and salt. Add 4 cups of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the stockpot and simmer on the lowest setting of your stove for about 1½ to 2 hours. Check it every 10-15 minutes making sure it is not sticking to the bottom and add more water if needed. Depending on the heat source, it may take longer to cook. The vegetables should be softened and cooked through and the lentils will dissolve into the stew, almost becoming gelatinous and creamy. When the stew is done, stir in the cardamom and oil or butter.

Meanwhile, discard the bottom 3-4 inches of the spinach and dandelion bunches and chop the rest of the leaves. Dice the tomato into small ½-inch pieces. Just before serving the stew, stir in the spinach, dandelion, fenugreek, cilantro, tomato and fennel fronds. Enjoy with basmati rice or any flatbread.

Notes & variations

• Fresh fenugreek leaves are available at most Indian grocery stores — substitute with a quarter cup of dried fenugreek if needed.

• Channa dal, a split garbanzo bean, is the most commonly used lentil for sai bhaji — but feel free to try it out with other lentils or beans.

• This is a stew where almost any substitution will work — plain onion instead of green, squash instead of carrots, regular potato instead of sweet, kale instead of spinach and so on. Even with spices, replace the cardamom with cinnamon or nutmeg.

• This recipe works great with a pressure cooker or a slow cooker — cook the entire first part in it and finish with the greens and herbs when serving.

Makes 4 servings

From Anita Jaisinghani

Anita Jaisinghani is the chef-owner of Pondicheri restaurant in Houston. Her website is india1948.com. Contact her at anita@pondicheri.com.

The Link Lonk


February 18, 2021 at 01:13AM
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/article/This-easy-traditional-stew-is-ideal-for-late-15956923.php

This easy, traditional stew is ideal for late winter - Houston Chronicle

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