Saag

Already plated up:
saag, makki, salad

 ...Salad: cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions ...

... my first look at the saag ....
 ... a good thing I took seconds ...
... there were not many leftovers ...

I ate a traditional Punjab meal tonight with the Singh’s and their guests.

Saag is chopped mustard greens and spinach with some cumin seed, a few chile peppers, some garlic and maybe some turmeric.

In this case the greens had been grown in Manvir’s garden and transported out to B.C. so that we could have a traditional meal, one that can’t be found in any restaurant.

Ron Singh showed me how to take the cornmeal roti, break off a piece of it, and then squeeze its sides that I had a small cup or scoop with which I could pick up the saag.

Having just had my hands in Ethiopian food last week, it was easy to dig right in and make a few mistakes.

I did notice that I chased the saag right across my plate to its edge and had to bring it back to the centre to try again.

I won't have a problem with practising technique if they keep making this food for me.

After a while I tried to say the word “saag” and they explained that the 2 a’s can be drawn out as long or kept as short as I would wish.

I intend to keep the “a’s” long.

Labour intensive meal?

Yes.

And a big yes to delicious, something I didn’t ever think I would say about mustard greens and spinach.

“Why do you think everyone would try to invade India?”, one of them asked me. “It was not for the gold but for the food.”

Arta