sagpaita recipe | urad dal aur palak ka sagpaita

Sagpaita is simply a dal cooked with winter greens. As I mentioned in the bathue ka sagpaita recipe, dals are rarely cooked without greens in winters. Many times the dals are replaced by the various nimonas and sometimes people even replace the everyday dal with rajma or chhole to be had with plain boiled rice. Those are some of the comfort foods for many of us and rajma chawal, chhole chawal, nimona chawal or sagpaita chawal kind of meals bring back the memories from childhood till date.

Urad dal (black lentils) are consumed a lot during winters for all traditional recipes of khichdi, dals and of course the badas and badis of different types.

Mung and masoor are the easily digestible dals chosen for summer meals while chana dal and urad dal are common winter foods. Other dals also keep featuring in various permutation combinations and there are various names for all the dals we eat. A cook's prowess is often measured by how well he/she cooks a dal and there are many old kahavats (sayings) featuring the humble dal, it can be such a homely dish that can be adapted to just about anything.

We used split urad dal with skin for this recipe of urad dal ka nimona and the common greens used for this are spinach, bathua of chenopodium, or a mix of all seasonal greens, each one imparting a new dimension to this sagpaita. I often add a handful of tender carrot leaves or spring onion greens to add more flavour to the sagpaita.

Feel free to add any greens you like but spinach or bathua taste the best with a little added carrot leaves, spring onion, dill leaves or even a bit of fenugreek leaves.

ingredients 
(3-4 servings)

1/3 cup split urad dal with skin (as shown in the picture above), rinse and let it soak for 15 minutes
salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp grated or minced ginger
2 cups of cleaned and chopped spinach leaves (about 300 gm)
3/4 cup of chopped spring onion or dill leaves or fenugreek leaves ( I used spring onion here)

for tempering
1 tbsp ghee or a little more if you wish
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped ripe tomatoes (preferably desi, I don't use tomatoes many times)
1 tsp everyday curry powder
red chili powder to taste

procedure 

Pressure cook the split urad dal with salt, turmeric powder, ginger and a cup of water. It takes about 10 minutes after the first whistle. Lower the heat after the first whistle to let the dal cook. Let the pressure release on its own.

In the meanwhile prepare for the tadka and you can cook the rice etc to go with the dal.

Open the lid of the pressure cooker and add all the chopped greens, mix well and place the lid back. The greens will get cooked in the remaining heat.

For the tadka, heat the ghee in a pan, add the asafoetida, cumin seeds, garlic and onions in that order, waiting in between to let the aromas infuse in the oil. Brown the onions lightly.

Add the curry powder as soon as the onions brown, mix quickly and dunk the chopped tomatoes in it. Add a little salt and cover to cook the tomatoes thoroughly on low heat. This takes about 4-5 minutes.

Now pour the dal and greens mix to the tadka pan, mix well, add some water to adjust consistency and simmer for a couple of minutes before serving.

This sagpaita tastes really good with plain boiled rice and makes hot comfort food in winters. I always remember eating hot dal chawal in a bowl and I still do that. Now I have huge breakfast mugs that I use for me soup meals o dal chawal meals, sagpaita and chawal meals also come in the same category. You really don't need anything else with this sagpaita and rice meal but the traditional bhujias, roasted papad and raita etc are pleasant additions always.

Sometimes I add lot of tomatoes and some green peas too in the tadka and cook them thoroughly before adding to the sagpaita. Variations always feel good in such everyday recipes and sometimes leftover dals can also be turned into sagpaita with just the tadka and some tomatoes and winter greens added.

It always feels good to cook something our grandparents have been eating and most certainly their grandparents ate the same too. It is in the last 2-3 decades that our food habits have changed so much that many of us have forgotten cooking from scratch, using real ingredients and not sauces, mixes and blends.

My motive is to bring back the food wisdom on the table everyday. We need to realise that simpler foods are the tastiest and stay in our memory for ever. A curry loaded with a hundred spices gets lost in the memory lanes. Try recollecting your food memories and you will know what I mean. 

sagpaita recipe | bathua wala sagpaita

When winter greens are cooked with dals (lentils) the preparation is called as sagpaita in UP homes. Dals are rarely cooked without greens during winters and the use of hing (asafoetida) and garlic is generous to keep it warming and curb bloating.

Winter food in Indian kitchens is all about relishing the fresh produce in abundance. Especially the leafy greens that come during winters are used in thousand different ways and there is a recipe suitable of every meal and snack time. The everyday dal always has some leafy greens added, a generous tadka of hing and garlic makes sure the excessive intake of greens is digested well, those who avoid garlic add a little more hing to the tadka.

This bathue wala sagpaita or arhar dal cooked with bathua (chenopodium greens) is something we look forward to in every winter. Bathua is a delicious saag (leafy green) that we use for parathas, raita, kadhi, chokha, saag or bhujia type preparations, this dal is also one of the popular recipes that is made in many homes across UP. 

ingredients
(2 servings)

cleaned and washed bathue ka saag 300 gm
arhar dal (split pigeon peas) 50 gm
masoor dal (red lentils) 50 gm
salt to taste 
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chopped onion 1/4 cup
chopped tomatoes 1/2 cup
minced garlic 2 tsp
hing a pinch
cumin seeds 1 tsp
red chili powder to taste 
ghee 1 tbsp

procedure 

Rinse the lentils and soak for 30 minutes. Pressure cook the dal mix with salt and turmeric, along with 1 cup of water. It needs about 8-10 minutes after the first whistle. Cool down to release pressure before proceeding.

Meanwhile chop and bathua finely.Add the bathua to the cooked dal once you open the cooker. If cooking the dal in a pan you can add the bathua once the dal is cooked through.

Prepare the tadka by heating the ghee. Add hing, cumin seeds and garlic in that order, waiting for each ingredient to turn aromatic before adding the next. Add the chopped onions and fry till pinkish. Add the tomatoes and a little salt, fry and cook till tomatoes get completely mushy. 

Add this tadka to the cooked dal and bathua mix. Adjust the consistency by adding water if needed, stir and mix, simmer for a couple of minutes before serving.

The dal is not rich and doesn't look so. It doesn't need any garnish but a dollop of ghee is added to each portion after serving. It tastes great with plain boiled rice and some bhujia type subzi
 

everyday daal : chane ki daal bathue wali | sagpaita cooked with split chickpeas and chenopodium greens

Sagpaita is a name given to all lentils cooked with winter greens. Spinach, Chenopodium (bathua), Fenugreek greens (methi), Chane ka saag (chickpea greens) or a mix of spinach and dill leaves, fenugreek greens and dill leaves etc is cooked with any lentil to make a saucy daal rich with flavours of garlic, hing and cumin used for the tadka.

Sagpaita is basically a winter food that is considered warming and hydrating for the body at the same time. The lentils used mostly for sagpaita are arhar ki daal (split pigeon peas), chane ki daal (split chickpeas) or urad daal (split black beans) but a mix of lentils is also used. Mung ki daal (split mung beans) is also cooked to make sagpaita but it is mostly with baby spinach or baby fenugreek greens.

All these sagpaita recipes are slightly different from each other despite being a mix of lentils and greens basically but the taste of each sagpaita tells you how and why each one is cooked differently.

We do cook lentils with purslane greens in summers too but somehow sagpaita is a name given to the ones cooked with winter greens only. No wonder, the daal can include a lot of spices and loads of ghee is topped over the bowls of sagpaita. It has to be a winter delicacy as the recipe is tuned to be eaten in winters. All parts of Uttar Pradesh get very chilly during the 2 months of winter and there are various foods made with fresh produce to stay warm.

This chane ki daal ka sagpaita with bathue ka saag is made differently in each family. Some would add a little urad dal to it and some would add some fresh green peas or 'harey chane' but the tempering will always have some hing-jeera-lasun and laal mirch along with mild spices like dhaniya, jeera, kali mirch powder and may be a couple of tejpatta. There is good protein in the daal along with a lot of greens, so the hing and garlic etc is added to allow proper digestion of the sagpaita.

I sometimes add es of paneer to my sagpaita to make it a one pot meal. Otherwise it is best enjoyed with plain boiled rice, some bhujia type dry subzi, raita and papad kind of Indian meals.

ingredients
(2-3 large servings)

For pressure cooking
chane ki daal (split chickpeas 100 gm (scant half cup)
finely chopped bathua (chenopodium greens) 300 gm (2 cups packed)
minced ginger 1 tbsp
salt to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp
water 1.5 cup

For tempering
ghee 1 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
hing (asafotida) a pinch
chopped garlic 1-2 tsp according to taste
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp or more to taste
everyday curry powder 1 tsp (optional)

lime juice to serve.
Paneer cubes as per requirement.

procedure

Pressure cook the daal and bathua greens along with the ingredients listed. Wait till the pressure builds up and the whistle blows, then cook on low flame for 10 minutes.

Prepare the tempering by heating the ghee and then adding the ingredients one after the other in the order listed. Make sure the garlic gets pink in colour and turns aromatic before you add the chilly powder and then remove the pan from the stove and pour the ingredients into the cooked daal. Mix well and churn the daal mixture if you like the sagpaita a bit saucy.

Serve hot with some lime juice or hot melted ghee or butter on top. This can be served with all the usual Indian accompaniments for a meal as I mentioned.

When I add paneer cubes I usually let the sagpaita simmer for a few minutes to soften the paneer before serving. Sagpaita or bathue wali chane ki daal has a distinct aroma of hing, cumin seeds and garlic that we call 'hing-jeera-lehsun ka tadka' and a mild kick imparted by red chillies. The base is earthy with bathua and chana dal that makes this sagpaita a very uniquely flavoured daal.

You can cook this daal with arhar (toor or pigeon peas) ki daal as well. The recipe wont changeeven if you use a mix of chane and arhar ki daal. But mung and urad daals need a different treatment. We will talk about that when I share the recipe of sagpaita with those lentils.

Enjoy bathua chane ki daal ka saigpaita till then.