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Ven Pongal Aur Shalgam Ki Saag

Actually When I made there two I ended up putting tipar saag meaning turnip greens in Hindko. In Urdu it is called either shalgam or shaljam. I made this along with the ven pongal which was this dish I had tried out too that is underneath the greens themselves. Right now we are going to deal with the ven pongal:on high heat in the instant pot on sautè function add 1 oz of corn or canola oil then add 1 tbs of either butter ghee mustard oil or coconut oil, 1 pinch of hing, 3 curry leaves, 10 to 15 peanuts or cashews, 1 pinch each of cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and mustard seeds. Let crackle and add 1 pinch of black peppercorns to mortar and pestle and grind in to a coarse powder then add to the oily masala mix. Add 1 small piece of ginger, 1 small piece of turmeric root and grind them to a pulp. Add 1 pinch of pink salt, 1 green chili or 1 pinch of red chili powder. Add this to finish up the masala base and add 1 tiny pinch of tamarind.

Take 1/2 cup of yellow or green moong ki dal and rinse and and drain by using a seive 4 times then put this and the water in a bowl and set aside. Now take 1 cup of either white or brown basmati, long grain, medium grain or short grain regular rice or even white jasmine rice and keep rinsing until the water turns clear or you can add the same amount of either quinoa, sorgham, millet, barley or even cracked wheat to another bowl. Make sure the cooker is off by selecting cancel and now add the dal and the rice other type grain you are using. Add 6 cups of water and select pressure cook on high and press start with the cooker being on sealing for 20 minutes. Place steam diverter and tap quick release button then open the cooker after pressure released. Check the dal and the type of grains used to make this ven pongal with and if they still are a little hard then add 2 more cups of water if the liquid level is low and repeat. This time it should be ready. Now we are ready to move on in this post.

Now for the greens part you will need to wash at least 1 to 2 bunches of turnip greens by adding 1 drop of dish soap and use lots of cold running water to clean them. This gets all of the grit out of them. If you do not want to go to the hassle and the only way is by using 1 large bage of frozen turnip greens instead. Now add the same type of oil you used for the ven pongal and this is done on stovetop. Turn the pot on to high heat and add either corn or canola oil and to this add either ghee, mustard oill or coconut oil. Add 1 pinch each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek, fennel seeds and hing, 3 curry leaves and let splutter and add 1 onion or shallot, 3 cloves of garlic chopped, 1 small piece of ginger chopped, 1 green chili chopped, 1 pinch each of turmeric and red chili powder, 1 tomato chopped and either the fresh turnip greens you cleaned or 1 bag of frozen turnip greens, 1 pinch of turbidano sugar because the turnip greens are bitter, 1 cup of water only if you are using frozen greens, 1 pinch of pink salt. Turn heat down to low cover and let cook for 20 minutes. This you can serve with the ven pongal or have it as a part of another meal completely.

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