Sai Bhaji
The everyday Sindhi-Hindu one-pot meal — chana dal, spinach, dill, coriander, methi, brinjal, tomato and a few drumsticks all pressure-cooked together with onion-garlic-ginger paste, then tempered. Iron-rich, deeply nourishing, eaten with bhuga chawal (browned cumin rice) on weekday lunches.
Ingredients
- salt — 6 g
- Chana Dal — 100 g
- Garlic — 12 g (crushed)
- Spinach (Palak) — 250 g
- Dill Leaves — 40 g
- Brinjal — 80 g (cubed)
- onion — 60 g (chopped)
- dry kashmiri chillies — 3 g
- Coriander Leaves — 30 g
- Turmeric — 3 g
- Ginger — 12 g (crushed)
- Cumin Seeds — 4 g
- Drumstick — 80 g (cut-2-inch)
- tomato ripe — 100 g
- Mustard Oil — 30 g
- Kasuri Methi (optional) — 40 g
- green chillies — 10 g
Method
- Wash 100 g chana dal; soak 20 min while you wash the greens.
- In a pressure cooker, layer: chana dal, all the chopped greens, brinjal, drumstick, tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, turmeric, salt. Pour 500 ml water.
- Pressure-cook 4 whistles. Open after pressure releases.
- Mash everything with a hand masher till you get a coarse-textured stew (some greens visible). Adjust salt.
- In a tempering pan heat 30 g mustard oil till smoking; cool slightly. Splutter cumin seeds and kashmiri chilli powder.
- Pour the tempering over the bhaji. Mix once. Serve hot with bhuga chawal or phulka.
Common questions
- Sai Bhaji ko English mein kya kehte hain?
- साई भाजी ko English mein Sai Bhaji likhte hain.
- Ek plate Sai Bhaji mein kitni calories hoti hain?
- 251 kcal per plate.
- Kitna time lagta hai?
- 45 min lagta hai — 15 min taiyari, 30 min pakana.