Oil-free Swiss Chard Saag and Roti bread

Saag, which is typically a well-cooked blend of spinach and other greens, has always been one of my favorite Indian dishes. My good friend Abby Bean will attest that I had trouble sharing the dish when we ordered it together last year after the Ivy-League Vegan Conference. It was also a must-get dish when I went to a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Dubai.

Until recently, I always had trouble recreating it without oil. That said, I’m pretty sure this recipe not only significantly increases the nutrition profile of the classic dish, but it also has an out-of-this world taste!

A few nights ago, after my daily four hour-long Spanish class, while M was working a 24-hour shift, I decided to surprise her with this as it is one of her favorite recipes of mine.

The following night we had a classic Indian sampling. I made the Saag, along with my lentil dal, and a simple cauliflower and potato aloo gobi.

Because I was making a few dishes, I left the rice out of the dal recipe, making it a more classic red dal. Instead, I cooked a large bowl of brown rice with cumin seeds, two bayleafs, a pinch of salt, and a well-chopped carrot.

M and I also decided to try a simple, whole-wheat roti bread, which brought the entire dish together and gave it a more authentic Indian feel.

This dish uses Swiss chard instead of the more classic spinach, but I’ve also used kale prior to moving Buenos Aires. Swiss chard is not only high in nitrates, but it may also help prevent your skin from wrinkling, as a paper published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition observed that those with the highest green leafy vegetable consumption tended to have the fewest wrinkles... So eat away!

The dish can also stand alone and is a delicious and nutrition-packed dinner when served with bread or on top of rice. 

Swiss Chard Saag

Serves 4

½ bunch swiss chard – stemmed and roughly chopped

1 large onion – chopped

1” chunk of fresh ginger - chopped

3-4 cloves garlic - chopped

1 cup plant-based milk

½ cup broth or water

¼ cup cooked chickpeas or 1 handful cashews

2 tablepsoons tomato paste

3-4 taplespoons nutrition yeast

1 teaspoon cumin (seeds or powder) - toasted

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon garma masla

A pinch of chili seeds or cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon salt

Black pepper to taste

½ cup cooked split green peas (optional)

To begin, dry sauté the chopped onion. After a few minutes, add the garlic, ginger and cumin. Cook for a few more minutes on medium heat before adding the swiss chard. Slowly add a few tablespoons of water or broth as needed to keep the cumin from sticking. After 5 minutes, the swiss chard should begin to soften and become bright green. Remove from heat and let cool.

Once the sautéed greens are cool enough, combine all the ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor. A hand-held blender also works well. Blend well.

This is a dish that you will want to test the spices as you cook and adjust accordingly. If you are serving this dish on it’s own, consider adding a half cup of cooked green peas to the dish.

Whole Wheat Roti Bread (Chapatis)

Roughly makes 10 pieces

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup of warm water

½ teaspoon salt

While this bread is very simple to make it does take a little time for it to set so plan accordingly and try and start the bread at least one hour before you plan on eating.

Most roti recipes call for a tablespoon of oil, but as you’ll see, it’s completely unnecessary for the recipe.

Simply put the flour into a large bowl with the salt. Then slowly pour the warm water onto the flour. Knead the flour until it becomes a sticky dough.

Form the dough into a ball and cover the dough and let it sit for at least 1 hour although 2 hours is preferable.

Using your hands, pull about the amount of a walnut (in the shell) from the dough and flatten it until very thin.

Place the flattened dough onto a hot pan and cook until the side starts to crisp and puff up. Flip over and repeat.

Hope you enjoy these dishes.

Chau!

M.B. Purba, et. al. “Skin Wrinking: Can food make a Difference?” Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Feb. 2001 71-80.

Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in Food. Nitrate in Vegetables. The EFSA Journal 2008 1-79.

As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.

Wild About Greens and Curried Chickpeas with Sweet potatoes and Collards

Last week I learned about a new cookbook from of all places…Fox News. Don’t be mistaken. I am not NOT a follower of anything Fox. However, a friend posted an article about veganism they published (I’ll spare you the trouble, it wasn’t all that flattering of an article, although considering the source it wasn’t terrible either) and Nava Atlas, the vegan cookbook author extraordinaire, was featured in it.  At the bottom, it mentioned she had a new book out called Wild About Greens: 125 Delectable Vegan Recipes for Kale, Collards, Arugula, Bok Choy, and other Leafy Veggies Everyone Loves. I messaged a close friend asking if they had heard of it and a week later that very special friend gave me the book as a birthday present. I can assure you all that this is one present that will be getting a lot of use!

Having now read Wild About Greens from cover to cover I can say this is easily one of my favorite cookbooks. The first 25 pages gives short “biographical” sketches about each of the main greens featured throughout the book. Here you will find blurbs about taste and texture for common household named greens like spinach and kale as well as a few more rare treats such as escarole and dandelion greens. Nava Atlas also included a quick recipe finder in this section to spare the reader from having to search aimlessly in the index for recipes for specific greens. (Note: I’m not actually so sure how much more helpful this is then the index, but it’s a nice touch). Unlike other cookbooks I have, Atlas chose to only use relatively easy to find greens (all the greens in this book are commonly found in grocery stores, health stores, and CSA’s) in her recipes, this is a particularly appealing aspect of the book.

After this introduction to the greens, come her amazing recipes. If you are familiar with her other work, all of the recipes in this book sound as amazing as her more classic ones. The book is broken down into Basic Preparations; Greens with Beans, Grains, Pasta & Other Vegetables; Salads, Dressings & Dips; Greens in Soups & Stews; and concludes with a short section on Green Juices & Smoothies.

The book is well written and the directions are easy to follow. So far I’ve made a few recipes all of which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, but down below I decided to share my favorite!

There are two negatives in this otherwise excellent book. My first compliant is that the book was published in China. This just seems completely unnecessary with so many US printers. My second compliant is the lack of photos of the prepared food. Often times, I flip through a cookbook without reading a single word but instead just glance for the pictures that look appealing. This book, however, only offers 8 high definition photos found in the middle of the book. Still if you are looking to increase your intake of veggies, particularly of nutrient-dense greens, this is a must have cookbook!

Here is a remarkable recipe, which I altered just slightly. It is high in protein as well as vitamins and minerals. While I enjoyed it immensely in 90+ degree heat of the summer, I think it would really go-over well in the autumn and winter seasons.

Curried Sweet Potatoes with Chard & Chickpeas (4 servings)

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into chunks

1 16-20 oz can of chickpeas (I used 2/3 cup of dried chickpeas which I cooked ahead of time)

1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 scallions (I used green onion)

8 to 12 oz of chard (I used collards)

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, diced

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ cup raisins

cilantro or parsley and salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the garlic over low heat until golden. Then add the sweet potato with 1½ cups of water. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the sweet potatoes until they are tender. (I think if you prebake the sweet potatoes you can skip this step and save about 12 minutes of cooking time).

After most of the water has been cooked off and the sweet potatoes are tender, add the chickpeas, tomatoes, scallions, curry powder, ginger, and cumin and bring the mixture to a simmer again; cook over low heat for 10 minutes or so until the tomatoes have been reduced to a sauce and the flavors have mingled.

Meanwhile, strip or cut the chard leaves (collards) away from their stems. Slice the leaves into strips.

Add the greens to the skillet and cook briefly, just until the greens begin to wilt. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and optional raisins. I highly recommend the raisins. The sweet and spicy combination made this dish phenomenal!

                          (yes, I consider this a single portion)

Now besides swapping chard for collards, I also added freshly crushed red pepper seeds to the mixture as well as ½ cup cooked buckwheat that I had left over. While the dish certainly doesn’t need it, I couldn’t imagine making this again in the future without it! Finally I served the entire dish over fresh spinach adding just a little extra something special.

enjoy