Saag (Punjabi Greens)

Work out which leaves will take longest to cook, if they have thick stems, they will take the longest so start with them.I always wash the bags of leaves, even if they are ready washed, I give them a quick rinse.Start by chopping the ends off and any rough leaves, give them a quick chop. I keep the stems and just give the edges a trim.Put a big cooking bowl in the sink, fill with warm water and soak your leaves for a few minutes, now lift the leaves and put into a colander, any grit should remain in the bowl and rinse the leaves in a colander. Place the leaves in the big pan and pour in just enough water to cover the leaves, bring to boil whilst you start cleaning, chopping and washing the next set of leaves.The leaves will be added to the pan as you wash, don't add any extra water and keep stirring, mashing the leaves to get them cooked as quickly as possible. It takes me twenty minutes to get the leaves all washed, roughly chopped and in the pan. Whilst the leaves are bubbling away, peel and (roughly) chop your ginger, peel your garlic cloves, along with your chillies (stems removed) give them a quick rinse and place them in you food processor, give them a whizz to make a smooth crush. Leave the processor to one side with the crush in it. Meanwhile, fry your onion in the small pan, using the rapeseed oil, just keep an eye on them and when they are golden, add the onions to the food processor and give it all a good whizz until you have a puree. Place the onion mix into a pan and continue to fry until the mix is golden and the ginger/garlic is cooked, keep this mix on a low heat to prevent burning. The leaves should be suitably cooked and need to be thickened at this point, there should be some liquid left in the pan, just about a couple of mug fulls, if not, add a little.Take the cup of cornmeal flour and add it to a big jug and pour in enough water to make a gloopy mix, and stir together well, ensure there aren't any lumps. Now, add the gloopy mix to the leaves and give a good mix, don't let the pan boil and simmer for 15 minutes, whilst you keep stirring the pan, it should be a creamy mash like constituency.We are simply cooking the cornmeal mix out and thickening the leaves at the same time.Check you can use your stick hand blender in the pan and blend all your leaves until they are smooth, a little texture is ok. Now add the onion mix, salt and butter to the big pan and simmer for a further ten minutes, don't forget to give the pan a good stir.The longer you allow to simmer, the nicer it tastes and I sometimes put it in my slow cooker to finish.Be careful, it will stick so needs a lot of stirring. I allow it to simmer whilst I make the breads.Enjoy with traditional chappatties or be adventurous and try making your cornmeal chappatties (makki di roti)