Go green: Winter is the best time to gorge on green vegetables

Winter is the best time to gorge on healthy green, leafy vegetables. A generous portion of green veggies in your daily diet can benefit your body and health in numerous ways. Here are a few recipe you can try.

Stir fry of Bok choy and water chestnut:

Ingredients:

4 bok choy, washed and cut roughly
100 gm water chestnut, drained
100 gm bean sprout, washed
20 gm garlic, peeled and minced
15 gm corn flour
Salt to taste
20 gm broth powder
10 gm sugar
10 ml sesame oil
1 sprig spring onion, chopped
1 capsicum, cut in triangles

Method:

In a pan, heat some vegetable oil, add bok choy, garlic and sauté for half a minute. Add water chestnut, and continue cooking. Add water, broth powder, sugar and bring to a boil. Add cornflour, salt and finish with a dash of sesame oil. Garnish with chopped spring onions and bean sprouts.

Spinach Arancini:

Ingredients:

1 kg spinach
100 gm arborio rice
50 gm parmesan cheese
25 gm onion, chopped
10 gm garlic, chopped
20 ml white wine
Salt to taste
Crushed black pepper to taste
20 gm butter
50 gm bread crumbs
Oil for frying

Method:

Blanch fresh spinach leaves, strain and chop roughly. Sauté onion garlic in butter till translucent, then add white wine and reduce till half. Add arborio rice and cook on a low heat adding 50 ml of water after every five minutes, till the rice is cooked but is still firm to bite. Remove from flame, add parmesan cheese, seasoning and spinach. Cool the mixture and form spherical balls of about 1.5 cm diameter. Dredge the spheres in bread crumb and fry in hot oil till golden.

Mustard greens stuffed cottage cheese:

Ingredients:

500 gm mustard greens
50 gm garlic
100 gm onion
200 gm cottage cheese
50 gm hung curd
10 gm degi mirch powder
200 gm tomatoes
5 gm kasoori methi
50 gm butter
50 gm ghee
10 gm jeera
25 gm garam masala
10 gm ginger-garlic paste
50 ml fresh cream
10 ml honey
Salt to taste

Method:

Blanch mustard greens, chop and make a fine paste. Heat up ghee, add chopped garlic, jeera and cook the mustard paste. Cook for a while and allow to cool. Keep aside. Shape the paneer into a cylindrical shape of about 3 cm diameter. Make another cylindrical incision of about 2 cm diameter in the same cylinder and scoop out the cottage cheese to make a hollow cylinder. Mix hung curd, degi mirch, garam masala, ginger-garlic paste and salt, to a thick marinade for the cottage cheese. Stuff the cottage cheese with mustard green mixture and cook in an oven for eight minutes at 250°C.

For the sauce: Blanch tomato, de skin, and make to a smooth puree. Cook in oil with ginger-garlic paste, butter, garam  masala to a smooth sauce, and finish with kasoori methi powder.

Sarson Da Saag:

Ingredients:

1 bunch mustard greens /sarson
1 bunch spinach /palak
¼ bunch fenugreek greens /methi
½ tbsp black pepper powder
2-3 dry red chilli
Salt to taste.
3 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp ghee
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 inch ginger, grated
3 pod garlic, grated
4 green chillies, sliced

Method:

Wash and chop all the greens. Boil them in a pan along with salt and black pepper powder. Cook over low or medium flame till greens are tender.  Make a coarse paste of cooked greens and corn flour. Cook the mixture over low flame for five to six minutes. In a pan heat ghee and add onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes are tender. Add the greens to the pan and mix well. Cook for another five to six minutes till you get the required consistency. Garnish with butter before serving.