Our mantra at Earth Eats is "Local ingredients with global flavor," and we're going there again today with a recipe for saag. This dish of puréed greens is usually served over paneer, a fresh cheese popular in the cuisine of South Asia.
Most American restaurants use spinach as the base, but we're using mizuna, a Japanese mustard green. Adding a bit of arugula and spinach will give the dish a nice balance since mizuna can have an strong flavor. My general rule for cooking with aggressively-flavored greens -- add a touch of sweet, a touch of heat and a touch of fat.
This recipe calls for two pounds of greens, which may seem like a lot, but it will cook down to one quarter of that volume. And, be sure you cook the greens completely to a velvety texture -- this is not one of those dishes where you want crispy, crunchy greens!
You can serve this finished dish two ways:
- Right out of the pan, complete with big pieces of greens
- Blend the cooked greens to a smooth sauce
