Kolmi Shaak Bhaja - Water Spinach stir fry

 

11 March

Been a long since I wrote a blog post. I think with the onset of summer I feel super lazy now a days over weekends. Usually all my creative energies would be at peak during the weekends earlier when I would shoot, edit, write, plan for what to post. But now after a crazy hectic week of work, at weekends I feel like just loafing around, reading good books, making some very easy recipes and watch a lot of K-Dramas or anything new on Netflix. Somehow I am not able to convince myself to make all those elaborate dishes now a days. And on top of this, I have started eating very healthy and protein rich stuffs for breakfast and lunch to compensate for the workouts. These dishes are very simple like a glass of smoothie or boiled chicken and veggies and stuff like that. So basically the point is, I am not making any unique dishes throughout the week which I can post about. Maybe that is also adding to the draught you see in my blog. But I am thinking that maybe I should start writing about some of the healthy recipes I am trying out now which might help some folks in their weight loss or becoming healthy journey. I am still playing with that idea but you will see if soon on my page if I decide to go that way.

One more thing which is digressing me from food thoughts is thoughts of travel. With the Covid restrictions almost done and dusted with, everyday I am seeing new beautiful untouched locations coming up on my Facebook feed and makes my mind flutter with anticipation of visiting those places. I never realized I missed travelling so much in the last two years. So now in my free time pockets during the weekdays I keep browsing faraway places tucked away in the hills somewhere and just wish I can land up there someday. Being a Gemini, I am a compulsive day dreamer and with so many things to occupy my mind I barely feel bored, even if I am not engaging in Instagram these days or writing a blog post. In fact after a long time I again feel happy becoming free from the shackles of social media screen time. Now I spend my spare time just like the way I want it. I'm not chasing posting deadlines anymore on social media.  The downside is I have lost a few followers, but strangely it doesn't bother me much now. 

So after spending a lot of time doing things I felt good about I thought of again trying to write a post today. This is a special recipe post I will tell you why. This post is about Kolmi Shaak Bhaja - one of my absolute favorites after Kochur loti from childhood till day. Kolmi shaak is also known as water spinach, Chinese watercess, swamp cabbage, Kangkung or ong choy and is widely used in South Asian cuisines. These greens are so delicious that you do not need to add a bunch of spiced to make them taste good. Even a few basic things like red chilli and garlic tempering brings out the beautiful earthy flavors of this greens.

Whenever I go to Kolkata Kolmi Shaak Bhaja and Kochurloti are the two things I would ask Mom to make without fail. It is as if I cannot come back from Kolkata without having these two things. More so because in Pune its like one in a million chance to find Kolmi Shaak at a local produce market.  This particular green thrives in warm and moist tropical and subtropical climates. It also needs the right kind of soil like marshy land or swamp ponds to grow and hence in Bengal you find this in abundance but the soil in Maharashtra is different and not conducive for these greens.

Thus never have I ever thought that one day I would be making this in my Pune home. But it happened recently. I made one of my favorite stir fry here. All thanks to a wonderful vendor I had found in facebook. She sources all kinds of Bengal groceries and vegetables from Kolkata and stays very near to my home. That is what I call godsent! Previously I had vendors who would source grocery items but this is the first time someone sourced vegetables. I got both Kolmi Shaak and Kochur Loti form her in one go out of excitement, not calculating the amount of work it will take to make both of them together! But all that handwork cleaning and cutting them made sense when I had them with rice and daal. It was like a dream come true moment, even if it sounds a tad dramatic. So now lets' head over to the recipe without further ado. 

Checkout other recipes for Greens on my blog:

• Chola Shaker Ghonto - Green Pea greens medley
• Lau Palong er Ghonto - Bottle gourd spinach medley
• Kumro Shaker Chorchori - Pumpkin Leaves medley 

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves - 4 adults (minimum)

Ingredients :

• Tender Kolmi Shaak / Water Spinach - 500 gm ( 2 bunches of 250 each)
• Dry Red Chilli - 3
• Green Chili - 3
• Garlic - 15-20 pods
• Salt - as per taste
• Vegetable Oil - 2 tbsp

Equipment:

• Kadai / Wok

Procedure: 

1.  Clean the leaves first. Remove any wilted or rotten leaves. Wash the the rest of the Kolmi shaak under water a couple of times till all the dirt is removed. Drain all the water in a colander. 

Now chop off 1 inch from the stem base. Roughly chop the rest of the leaves 

2. Heat a frying pan or kadai and add vegetable oil. 

3. Once the oil is hot temper it with crushed garlic cloves ( about 10-15), broken dried red chilies and one green chili. Sauté it on medium flame till you get a nice aroma of garlic.

4. Now add the chopped Kolmi shak in batches. Let it reduce a little and add the next batch. 

5. Once you have added all the shaak, add turmeric and salt. Fold in to mix the spices. Now cook on medium flame and keep stirring in between. The shaak will release water and then the water will dry up. 

Tip 1: Cover the kadai for 30-40 seconds and then give it a stir. Repeat this throughout to get the shaak cook faster and maintain the green color. Note that prolonged covering of the shaak will lead to loosing its vibrant green color. 

Tip 2: You can add a few whole garlic pods at this point if you are a garlic lover like me. They will get nicely cooked along with the shaak.

Tip 3: Throw in a few green chilies if you want the stir fry to be more spicy.

6. The shaak will get cooked in about 8-10 minutes on medium flame. 

Serve it with piping hot rice and masoor daal tempered with radhuni or kalo jeere.