Aalan ka Saag

This one is regional recipe from Varanasi...You can get some variated version of this in Bihar or other part of UP too.Believe me this one taste best(as i belong to eastern UP,family is in Varanasi and rightnow m working in Patna )...In winter its like divine to dig into a bowl of Aalan-Saag with Makke or bajre ki Roti with ghee..
My mom make this in winter and its a record that till now who ever tasted this ,simply loved it ! I made this first time for Pankaj yesterday..First when he heard the name,was not at all interested but as soon as he tasted,i could simply see the joy in his eyes (now its his new favorite) ..So,just don't think,go ahead and enjoy leafy bliss !

Aalan means adding flour into cooked leaves which can be Makka or Bajra flour.In case you don't have any of them,you can replace it with Chickpea flour(Besan).Also there are two variations of it.one is cooked with Chana-Saag and another one is mixture of Spinach+Methi+Bathua(local green leaves).This time i made second one.
There are two most important things which give it great authentic taste and texture .first is lentil must hold its shape and second is tadka.

Here is the recipe directly from my Mom:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Kg Saag(leaves)(Chana/3mixed saag)*
3tbsp Split Chickpea lentil(Chana dal)
3Cup Water
8 Garlic
2 Spring Garlic
3-4 Green Chilies
2tbsp Ghee
1/2tsp Cumin
1/4tsp Asafoetida (hing)(optional)
2tbsp Flour(Bajra/Makka/Besan)


DIRECTIONS

• Clean and chop leaves finely.Place them in Heavy bottom deep pan with finely chopped spring garlic,2 green chilies and chickpea lentils.Add 3 Cup Water and 1tsp Salt.Place it over high heat and bring it to boil.
• Close the lid and low the heat and let it cook for 45 minutes.By now lentils will be cooked but not be mushy.
• Mix flour with half cup water and mix it in cooked vegies pan.
• Close the lid and let it cook for another 20minutes.Remove from heat.
• Crush and chop garlic and green chilies and keep ready with cumin seeds and asafoetida.
• Heat ghee in small pan.Add garlic-chilies-cumin-asafoetida and add this in cooked vegies (close the lid as soon as you add tadka in veggies).Leave the veggies with close lid for 5minutes.
• Top up with extra ghee and Serve hot with Ghee Roti.

*If you are using 3 leaves mixture it should be Spinach(Palak) : Bathua : Fenugeek leaves(Meth)i ::2:1:1.

## For takda its very important that ghee is very hot while adding garlic n chilies as this will create smoke while adding this to cooked saag.When you close the lid right after adding tadka in it,the smoke bring nice aroma to saag.

### Adjust chilies as per your taste.