Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Stir fry Mustard greens

Dear foodies,

When I try out new greens, the two recipes that I lean on are a basic dal or the stir fry method. Both are recipes with no complications and the greens get ample room to showcase themselves giving me a chance to decide if I like them :) This time I bought a bunch of mustard greens. The only other time that I had cooked with them was for making Anita's recipe for sarson da saag, yummy!

Mustard greens taste like none of the other greens, they have a slight bitterness and a texture to them, and the saag was a wonderful way to enjoy it. The only time I had eaten sarson da saag was in Delhi while accompanying my father on a business trip. It was way back in school and the only memory I have of it was that I liked it :D So when I tasted the saag I made the flavor was a pleasant surprise, no it did not rekindle any memories, those were lost right ?, but I liked the taste. A nice variation from the greens that I was used to on a daily basis. This time around though my intention was to repeat that dish, by the time I got around to making it I ran out of tomatoes and corn meal. So I turned towards the stir-fry method. I was in a mood for peanuts half way through the cooking process and towards the end grated coconut found its way in too. Both these don't feature in my basic method but I did not complain that night :)

Ingredients:
  • 1 bunch - Mustard greens
  • 1/2 tsp - mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds/jeera
  • 1 tsp - Chana dal
  • a pinch of asafoetida/hing
  • 2-3 nos - dried Red chillies, broken
  • 1/2 cup - sliced Onions
  • 1 clove - garlic, sliced (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp - coarsely powdered, roasted peanuts
  • 1 Tbsp - grated/dessicated coconut
  • 1/2 Tbsp - Oil
  • Salt to taste
Method:
  1. Throughly wash and roughly chop the mustard greens. Slice the onions. Heat a cast iron skillet or pan with the oil. Splutter the mustard and cumin seeds. Add the chana dal, let it brown a little, then the broken red chillies and hing.
  2. Add the sliced onions ( & garlic) and saute until they soften and turn translucent. Toss in the greens, salt and about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water. Cover lightly and cook on medium heat until the greens are tender, they take a while to cook ~ 8-10mins.
  3. Meanwhile, heat another small pan and dry roast the peanuts. Start them off on the cold pan and remove from heat when they starting changing color. Cool and crush them in a motar/pestle or coarsely powder them.
  4. When the greens are almost done, add the peanut powder and coconut. Stir and cook for a few more minutes. Serve hot with chapati or rice.
I had them with chapati's that night and had them in a sandwich the next day. I really liked the peanuts and coconut in this, they kinda a balanced the bitterness for me. The greens still had some texture to them and were not a total mush. How do you cook your greens ? Any other ways you use mustard greens ?

18 thoughts:

Unknown said...

That is a power packed dish for sure.

Vidhya said...

looks healthy

anudivya said...

Looks like the stir fry method worked like a charm... nice.

bee said...

i love bitter greens and this looks so inviting.

Hetal said...

wow...this looks nice!!

Cham said...

Adding peanut gives a crunchy bite! Looks pretty!

Sonia said...

A fully nutritious subji...!
Thanks for sharing.
Sonu:)

amna said...

Love the addition of peanut powder :)

Sangeeth said...

addition of Peanuts is great! healthy one!

Manasi said...

Coconut and peanuts! This is g8!
I shied away from mustard greens coz I hv always heard that they are a bit too strong .. ur recipe looks very inviting.

Sia said...

can I come over?

Bhawana said...

you reminded me my MIL's cooking today. she makes such item in winter. Vey nice and healthy recipe. gud one.

Suganya said...

This sounds to be healthy. Looks so good. YUM!....

Sagari said...

looks soo good

Priya said...


Yayyy! looks like all of you like the peanuts and don't simply think I am nuts :) Do try it out and let me know how you like it. I made some extra peanut powder and stored it in the fridge to use the next few days too, I was in a 'nutty' mood the whole week :)

mitr_bayarea said...

Looks so well cooked and tasty.

Srivalli said...

What a lovely bowl priya..nice colour!

Priya said...


Mitr, cooking mustard leaves takes a looong while compared to spinach, so turning them into mush is actually difficult on the stove top :P

Srivalli, I got it at a restaurant supply store here :P

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