What is sai bhaji?
Among the plethora of Indian dals you can make and eat is the delicious and nutritious sai bhaji, a gift from the Sindhi community that straddles India and Pakistan. This is not restaurant food - it’s a simple dal that people eat in their homes every day, and it’s way tastier and healthier than anything one can order. Sai bhaji (which translates to greens and vegetables) is, true to its name, loaded to the gills with veggies, much like a Parsi vegetable dhansak. But unlike a dhansak, where the vegetables and dal are pureed and flavored with a special spice mix, a sai bhaji is mashed to a coarse, full-bodied texture and flavored minimally. The gorgeous flavor in this dal comes from a unique mix of vegetables that includes leafy greens like spinach, dill and fenugreek leaves, eggplant, potatoes and tomatoes. The dill and spinach are essential, but you can tweak the other veggies to what you have in your refrigerator. The vegetables are cooked with chana dal or Bengal gram dal, then everything is mashed together with a wood masher (a potato masher does the job just as well). The final consistency is homogenized but not creamy. I like adding a tadka of garlic and red pepper flakes to the sai bhaji before serving. It looks great and adds more depth of flavor, but it is optional and you can skip it. The sai bhaji is delicious even without it.
How to make sai bhaji
Make the optional garlic tadka
Recipe card
This Sindhi sai bhaji is part of an occasional series on Indian dals, where I introduce you to a special dal from a special region, community or ethnicity in the Indian subcontinent, like Konkani dalitoy, Rajasthani panchmel dal, Tamil sambar and Bengali cholar dal. You can browse all my Indian dal recipes here. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
