From the pantry: Mustard leaves

Mustard leaves, popularly known as saag, originated in the Himalayas and travelled all the way to China before becoming popular in the west. This leafy vegetable is a good source of vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A and manganese. Though it is a quintessentially Indian ingredient, our expert chef and reader turn mustard leaves into two healthy recipes.

Mustard leaf (sarson saag) wrapped fish with cauliflower cous cous

Recipe by: Nishant Mitra, chef and owner, Eddies

Serves: Two

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the Fish

- Pomfret fillet: 150g

- Lemon: 1

- Salt: To taste

- Pepper: To taste

- Olive oil: 1 tbsp,

- Winter mustard leaves: 3 to 4For the cauliflower cous cous

- Cauliflower: ½ (grated)

- Sprig rosemary: 1

- Lemon zest: 1 tsp

- Olive oil: 2 tbsp

- Whole almonds, coarsely chopped: 1/4 cup

- Ribs celery: 2

- Sliced green onion (green part only): 2/3 cup

- Apple (cored and diced; peel can stay on): 1

- Golden raisins: 1 tbspn Grate cauliflower florets to resemble traditional cous cous.

Method

* Cover the bottom of a large sauté pan with a thin layer of water. Add salt, lemon, and rosemary. Bring it to a simmer and stir.

* Add the ground cauliflower to the pot, spreading it out in an even layer. Bring to a simmer, and then reduce heat. Cover the pan and steam for 5 minutes. Lay it out on a sheet and pat to cool.

* Heat olive oil in a medium-sized sauté pan on medium heat. Add the chopped nuts, celery and continue to cook until the mix is lightly softened.

* Add the green onions, raisins and diced apple to the pan, and stir to warm through.

* For the fish, mix lemon juice, zest, olive oil, salt and pepper. Marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

* Take a pot, add water and keep it on simmer. Keep the mustard leaf on the bottom and place the fish on it, cover it with the remaining marinade and brush with oil. Place a strainer over the pot. Add the fish on it. Cover it for 10 to 15 minutes.

* Once it’s cooked, warm the cauliflower couscous, place the fish on it and serve it hot.

Winning reader recipe: Saag Pancakes

Recipe by: Manjri Agarwal

Serves: Four

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the pancakes:

- Blanched and pureed mustard leaves and spinach: 1/2 bunch each

- All purpose flour: 1 cup

- Salt: ½tsp

- Sugar: 1 tbsp

- Baking powder: ½ tsp

- Water: ¾ cup

- Milk: ¼ cup

- White pepper:½ tsp

For butter garlic sauce:

- Chopped garlic: 5g

- Butter: 10g

- White pepper: 3g

- Kikkoman soy: 5ml

- Sake: 5ml

For Spicy mayonnaise:

- Mayonnaise: 20g

- Thai chilli sauce: 10g

- Red chilli powder: 5g

For tonkatsu sauce:

- Mayonnaise: 20g

- Tonkatsu sauce: 10gn

Method

* Boil saag and put in cold water, drain the water and make a puree. Make pancake batter by mixing flour, water, milk, salt, sugar, white pepper.

* Add spinach puree in the batter and take a spoon full of the batter and pour it in a pre-heated nonstick pan, on low heat.

* Saute all the ingredients for the mushroom stuffing in butter. Then place the stuffing on the pancake and fold it neatly, continue to grill till crisp.

* Prepare the different sauces by mixing the ingredients for each sauce in a separate, dry container.

* Serve the grilled pancakes with the dipping sauces.

For the next edition of From The Pantry, email us recipes made using Coconut (send a high-res photo of your dish, a photo of yourself, along with your name, address and contact number) at 48hours@hindustantimes.com The best recipe wins an exciting prize.