Recipe of chane ka saag or chane ke saag ka chokha

Chane ka saag or chane ka saag ka chokha has a wonderful complex flavour even though the recipe is quite simple. The complexity in the flavour is attributed to the mineral content of the leaves of chickpeas which taste savoury with a rich mineral taste when eaten raw. This saag recipe will leave you spellboud with its simplicity and complex flavours.

Sadly, chane ka saag (leaves of chickpea plants) is not so common in the cities possibly because it needs some time to sort and clean before being cooked. Most people are busy with work and with nonsensical things too sometimes and consider the time spent on preparing food as a waste of time unfortunately. I have overheard some interesting conversations in the weekly vegetables market in my area when people talk about how they would want to eat the greens but wonder who will clean them.

And then there are the vegetable vendors who come with a chopping instrument to cut the green right there for their costumers, but only spinach and mustard greens can be chopped like that because they are long stemmed and come in bundles, sometimes even methi greens. I wouldn’t ever think of getting my greens chopped like that, without cleaning them thoroughly in my own kitchen. Such pre-chopped greens loose all their flavour and of course the nutrients when they are rinsed in water before cooking so best to be avoided. Smaller leaves take time to sort and clean and that is the reason chane ka saag is not so popular despite being one of the tastiest green vegetable.

I have realised getting older now, that this kind of time spent on preparing food is quite meditative in nature and ensures healthy delicious food for the family.

Chane ka saag is not grown for the leaves primarily but is a byproduct of growing chickpeas. In the vegetative growth phase, before the flowers set in, the growing tips of chickpea plants are pruned regularly to make the plants bushier so it can bear more flowers and chickpea pods. In the rural areas and smaller towns, many women will be seen selling really fresh chane ka saag that they have plucked the same morning, so fresh that it is eaten in its raw form as well, just like a green snack. The taste of the fresh chane ka saag is savoury with a complex mineral punch on the palate, many people Just munch on the fresh chane ka saag by the handfuls and sometimes pound it with some salt and chilies for a coarse dry chutney.

I have grown chane ka saag Just for the leaves many times in my garden. You need to soak some black chickpeas and burry them under 1 cm of soil in a wide pot, it helps if you crowd them together, and keep it in a sunny spot. The leaves emerge in 3-5 days and grow about 6-8 inches tall in a month or so. Harvest them all and use to make any of the chane ka saag recipes from this blog. The whole plant except the base can be used in this case as it is tender and flavourful.

I have memories of such snacks from the holidays we used to enjoy in my grandmother’s village and how some women used to collect chane ka saag in their Aanchal (free flowing part of the sari, used in multiple ways in rural India) and come home to sell the saag instantly. A few saagwali ladies still come to our Banaras home bearing a large cane basket on their heads every morning to sell freshly plucked chane ka saag or foraged Bathua ka saag during winters and I go berserk whenever I am visiting.

I have already shared a few recipes of chane ka saag (saag is a generic name for all leafy greens as well as cooked leafy greens, used interchangeably) like this chane ka saag in a mustard gravy, chane ke saag ke pakode and chana saag dumpling curry, chane ke saag ka achar etc. The recipe I am sharing today is called just as chane ka saag in my home but some other people, especially from Bihar, call it as chane ke saag ka chokha of chane ke saag ki chutney as this recipe can be consumed like chokha or chutney too. I have used this recipe as a dip and as a spread as well with wonderful results.

This recipe of chane ka saag is so simple to prepare that you may feel like dismissing it in the first glance. But trust me the complex mineral taste of chane ka saag is enhanced so beautifully by the raw mustard oil and green chillies and garlic used in the recipe. Some people tend to use the green garlic for this recipe but I avoid that because the taste of chane ka saag itself is so rich that it doesn’t need any meddling. But go ahead and use green garlic if you like, minor flavour variations make a big difference sometimes for individual palates.

To clean chane ka saag you need to pluck the tips including tender stem and discard the hard stem, I prefer to shuck off all leaves from the hard stem too as this saag is so difficult to come by in the cities and is quite expensive too. This sorting of the saag takes some time and then you need to wash the leaves in several changes of water, I suggest you soak the leaves in a deep vessel for sometime so all the dirt settles down and then wash with several changes of water.You don’t need to chop the saag for this recipe.

Ingredients
250 gm chane ka saag cleaned and sorted
¼ cup water
¼ tsp salt (or more to taste)
10 cloves of garlic
5-6 green chilies or to taste
1 tbsp raw cold pressed mustard oil
Use 2 tsp mustard powder and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil if you don’t have access to mustard oil

Procedure
Boil the chane ka saag with water and salt in a covered pot for 4-5 minutes or till it wilts completely. Let it cool.

Blend with garlic and chilies till smooth. Empty in a serving bowl and drizzle the mustard oil on top.
Add the mustard powder while blending if using olive oil as a topping.

Serve with Indian meals of dal and rice or roti along with other subzis. Many people including me mix chane ka saag with plain boiled rice or dal and rice and eat it, I have seen it being eaten like this in my family. I like it with crisp hot parathas as well and of course in many other ways as mentioned above.

Chane ka saag remains one winter delicacy I look forward to every year. Try this if you get chane ka saag in your part of the world or grow some chickpea greens yourself just for this. It is worth all the effort trust me.

chane ka saag : steamed dumplings with chickpea greens in a mustard based curry ...

I cooked chane ka saag quite a lot this year. Somehow my demand for this particular leafy green met with supply too. I would keep asking the vendor at the corner of our weekly market for chane ka saag and he would say there are no takers here. May be he got a few more requests or just got fed up of me asking him every time I saw his other leafy greens, he brought it one day and then brings it more often. That's why I say we should create a demand for uncommon greens and vegetables too, the ones we used to get a decade ago are being forgotten with the flood of coloured peppers and imported vegetables. The desi produce is being forgotten sadly, I wonder if a large quantity of such produce rots while we eat the snow peas and coloured bell peppers, imported mushrooms and what not.

Taste this wonderful leafy green that is a growing soft shoot of chickpea plant, the shoots are nipped to accelerate lateral growth of plant so it becomes more bushy and bears more fruit. I am sure chane ka saag will be bought often once you taste how good it is. I have already posted a few recipes. This one can be another way to have it. I love it as it is like a dumpling soup, it is great with plain boiled rice as well if you have some side dishes like alu ki bhujia or begun bhaja, the way it would be eaten traditionally.

ingredients..

for the dumplings..
cleaned and chopped chane ka saag 2 cups
chickpeas flour or besan 1 cup or as required*
minced garlic 1 tsp
minced ginger 2 tsp
minced green chilies 1 tsp
ajwain seeds 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
water to sprinkle while binding the dough
salt to taste

for the gravy..
yellow mustard powder 2 tbsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
garam masala powder 1/2 tsp (optional, I have not used for this)
fresh tomato paste 1.5 cup
mustard oil 2 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

 procedure...

Mix everything from the list of dumpling ingredients and knead a dough. Make lime sized balls ans steam them. I microwave them in a greased bowl, covered with a loose lid and they get ready in 3-4 minutes. Check by pricking a cocktail stick if done.

The detailed procedure of making these dumplings is mentioned here.You can follow the same steps and play with the flavors used in the dumplings too. Keeping the steamed dumpling in the fridge till cold will be good to get a better shape when cooked in gravy. Steaming them a day ahead makes sense.

To make the gravy, heat the oil in a pan and tip in the fenugreek seeds. Let them become brownish  taking care not to burn them. Tip in all the steamed dumplings into the hot oil and toss them gently so they get seared from all sides.

Add the powders and toss the pan to coat everything and get a little roasted. Add the tomato paste and salt and about 2 cups of water and let the curry simmer for about 20 minutes. The dumpling balls will get doubled in size and the gravy will be lesser and thicker by the end of cooking.

Garnish with fresh coriander greens and serve hot with hot boiled rice or just as it is.

The version with a little garam masala looks darker in color and has more complex flavors. You can add some amchoor powder to balance the pungency of mustard if the tomatoes are not enough tart.

You can also add a few shallow fried Okra to this curry, or small aubergines shallow fried. Even lightly fried potatoes work well into this curry. A mustard based masala curry is very versatile, We make besan katli ki subzi and sarson waali machhli in this gravy as well. A few variations can be done in the spice blend but it is essentially a pungent tart curry that goes well with besan based dumplings, most river fish and several vegetables.

I am sure you would love this curry. Spinach or dill greens can also be used if you don't get chane ka saag.

Chane ka saag (chickpea greens) in mustard based curry | chane ke saag ki sarson waali subzi..

Chane ka saag is not something many of us would come across very often. I know many of you wont even know this green leafy vegetable. This is the tender shoots of the chickpea plant, it is plucked before the plant bears pods, plucking or pruning the plant helps it grow thicker, bear more branches and  more fruit while it grows. See how the greens look in the dumplings recipe here. My grandmother used to say so fondly about chana (chickpeas), it is eaten in so many forms, so many ways. Being a staple crop all across central India, we see many different recipes originating from all over the places.

This one is a thin gravy curry that has a base of mustard paste. The chickpea greens (chane ka saag) is not chopped and is left as it is after trimming the hard base. See the picture here, how the trimmed ready to use saag looks. This curry used to be a winter regular at my parent's place, especially when my grandmother would be with us. She was brought up in Bengal and all kinds of mustard based curries were her favorites. We used to love them too but she was the one who would plan and get the mustard finely ground on the stone Silbatta (flat type mortar and pestle), clean the greens and then sometimes cook it too. Simple rustic looking curries with great flavors. She used to cook a similar one with small oblong Aubergines too, something I haven't cooked for a very very long time.

I used mustard powder this time, this was after one of the readers suggested that the powder also gives good results. It was very convenient and the taste was exactly the same when a wet paste of mustard is used. The consistency was a little thinner than the wet paste but that is not such a big concern if you like the taste. The mustard powder doesn't emulsify nicely into the cooking gravy, as seen in the picture but he taste remains the same. You could add a tablespoon of almond meal to the gravy to make it creamy like it comes with a wet mustard paste, or just smash some of the potato cubes after cooking.

ingredients..

potatoes with skin one large or 2 medium (about 150 gm)
chane ka saag (chickpea greens) 200 gm
tomatoes halved and sliced into half moons 1 cup
mustard powder 2 heaped tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp or to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp

procedure...

Clean the potatoes by scrubbing all the dirt as we are using potatoes with skin. New potatoes are used for this, quite obviously in India as both chane ka saag and naya alu comes in the same season. Cut the potatoes in thick wedges or cubes.

Heat the oil in a pan or pressure cooker pan (I used pressure cooker) and tip in the fenugreek seeds. Let them get just fragrant and pinkish brown, they turn bitter if they get burnt so take care of that. Add the potatoes immediately. Toss and stir fry for a minute on high flame.

Add the powdered spices , toss to coat well for about 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes and salt to taste. Toss and cook for another minute or so.

Add all the chane ka saag , add a cup of water and cover the lid. If cooking in a pan, you have to add some more water and let the curry simmer for about 20 minutes. In pressure cooker, just till the pressure whistle blows. Take off the burner and let it cool to open the lid.

Adjust seasoning and consistency and serve hot. I like it as a soup too. This curry tastes great with plain boiled rice and since I am not much a rice eater and still want a large quantity of this curry, this is my way of enjoying it. In a soup mug with loads of the chcikpea greens , few potato cubes and just 2 tbsp of boiled rice.

It can be served as a side dish with another sookhi subzi , raita, chutneys etc for company.

The greens in this curry have a wonderful flavor when combined with mustard. When eaten raw, the chane ka saag tastes quite savory and can be added to salads too, cooked in a curry like this, you will find yourself fishing for more chane ka saag in the curry. Tomatoes make it a little tart or you are supposed to use amchoor if the tomatoes are not tart. So this tartness and presence of mustard makes the greens taste slightly like a pickle. I just love it.

This curry is definitely a Bihari or Eastern UP specialty  but the influence is clearly from Bengal. The Bengalis make mustard based curries differently though. More pungent ans some sugar used to balance. This curry has the pungency balanced with tartness of tomatoes.

You can use raw Plantains, slit aubergines or flat beans instead of chane ka saag in this recipe. Or just make it with the potatoes. I am sure it will be liked by all, especially if you love mustard oil and mustard seeds seasoning.

I would love to hear your feedback on this.

Chane ka saag | chickpea greens and a steamed savory snack called patoda or girmachh...

Yes, my grandmother used to call it chane ke saag ka girmachh as it is similar in the cooking technique to the arbi ke patte ka girmachh or patra, long cylindrical dumplings steamed and then cut into slices to shallow fry as a snack. Technically it is more similar to a gujrati muthia or any greens and lentil dumpling that we steam for snacking. I always wonder how versatile and yummy these dumplings are. I have posted another version of steamed dumplings that are tempered with sesame seeds etc for tea time snacking. These can be made with any green leafy vegetables but since I have had these in my childhood, made by my grandmother who was so find of spicy food, I love recreating this in my kitchen whenever there is a chance. The chance comes only when I get Chane ka saag in the market, that is a rare happening here in Delhi vegetables markets. In high end mega malls we don't get to see such desi seasonal greens while Celery and Parsley is abundantly available. I feel sad.

We should all keep writing in the suggestion books of those high end stores to stock Indian greens as well, till they realise there is market for the abundantly growing greens in out rural fields. Anyways, we get these at out local vegetable vendors or the farmers markets around the city. Cleaning this greens is a little time consuming but it's all worth it. Just discard the tough stems and keep the leaves and growing buds. Rinse them in several changes of water, drain and then chop finely. It's difficult to chop these finely as the leaves and twigs are quite small, just make a tight bundle, place on the chopping board and keep slicing away. It's a breeze after this.

ingredients...

chopped chane ka saag (chickpea greens) 250 gm or 3 cups chopped
besan(chickpeas flour) 1 cup
ginger-garlic-green chilly paste to taste (use a little more than you think is enough as besan needs a lot of seasoning)
cumin powder 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1-2 tsp or to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder to taste
salt to taste (you can taste the dough after mixing everything)
water about 1/4 cup or as required
mustard oil (or any other) fro greasing the plate and more mustard oil for shallow frying (about 1 tbsp is enough to fry about a dozen sliced discs)

procedure...

Mix everything together and make a dough adding minimal water.

Divide the dough into tennis ball size portions and shape cylindrical dumplings.

Grease a plate (microwave safe) and arrange all the dumplings over it. See this post to get a pictorial elaboration of the process, only the shape of the dumplings is different in this case.

Cover the plate with a dome cover or an inverted bowl (suitably sized) and steam the dumplings till firm. You can use the idli steamer meant of microwave or for stove top for steaming these dumplings. They cook quickly.

These dumplings taste really good while still hot and soft. You can have them as it is, but you need to cool them down before slicing and shallow frying.

Cool and place them all in a dabba or container to refrigerate. These keep well for a week and you can slice and shallow fry a small batch for evening tea every day.

To shallow fry, heat a tawa or flat griddle or frying pan with a tbsp of oil and arrange all the sliced discs on it. Let them brown on low flame on one side, then flip and brown it on the other side too. They become crisp on the surface and crumbly inside.

And yes, you don't even need a chutney with these. Spicy and perfectly crisp with a pleasant taste of chane ka saag. Tastes great with methi ka saag (fenugreek greens) as well.

These can also be curried like kofta curry or to make kadhi, but it has been a long time I curried these dumplings. These are so tasty as tea time snack either steamed or shallow fried that we never get enough leftover to make a curry with it.

I always say our traditional recipes are healthy and make use of whole foods. Don't you agree?