West Indian
Sai Bhaji (Spinach, Lentil and Vegetable One-Pot)
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Sai Bhaji (Spinach, Lentil and Vegetable One-Pot) is West Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the cooked vegetable. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
The quantities follow this count.
How to cook it
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Rinse the chana dal through two changes of water and leave it to soak in warm water while you cut the vegetables, which takes the 20 minutes the dal needs.
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Chop the spinach and dill coarsely, dice the bottle gourd, eggplant and potato into 1 inch pieces, and keep the eggplant under water so the cut faces do not turn brown.
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Heat the oil in a pressure cooker or a heavy pot over medium heat, add the chopped onion, crushed garlic and grated ginger and fry 5 minutes until the onion is soft and smells sweet rather than sharp.
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Add the chopped tomatoes, slit green chilies, turmeric, red chili powder and salt and cook 4 minutes over medium heat until the tomato has broken down completely and the oil shows at the edge of the pan.
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Drain the dal and add it with all the vegetables, the spinach, the dill and the water, then push everything down so the greens sit under the liquid.
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Pressure cook 3 whistles on medium heat, or cover the pot and simmer 30 minutes over low heat, until a piece of dal crushes with no grit between your fingers and the greens have collapsed into the pot.
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Open the pot and mash the contents coarsely against the side with a wooden spoon so it turns thick and dark green but still shows recognisable pieces of vegetable, then simmer uncovered 3 minutes to drive off any loose water.
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Squeeze in the lemon, stir once and serve hot with steamed rice.
Watch how to cook Sai Bhaji (Spinach, Lentil and Vegetable One-Pot)
Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.
Serve it with
A West Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Sai Bhaji (Spinach, Lentil and Vegetable One-Pot), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The protein alongside
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Sai Bhaji (Spinach, Lentil and Vegetable One-Pot) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish |
|---|---|
| Peanuts | No |
| Tree nuts | No |
| Dairy | No |
| Gluten | No |
| Shellfish | No |
| Eggs | No |
| Soy | No |
| Fish | No |
| Sesame | No |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Estimated, per serving
- Calories
- 350 kcal
- Protein
- 13 g
- Carbs
- 44 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fiber
- 13 g
- Sugar
- 10 g
- Sodium
- 650 mg
- Saturated fat
- 1 g
Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.
When to cook it
Sai Bhaji (Spinach, Lentil and Vegetable One-Pot) takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
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Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.