Soppu Saaru – Mixed Greens Mash with Lentils

Soppu Saaru is a classic Karnataka home style dish that is so nutritious and makes a perfect side dish for everyday meal. Recipe with step by step pictures and video.
This video is in collaboration with Deep Rooted.Co
Soppu in Kannada means greens. This soppu saaru is made with mixed greens. The greens are cooked with veggies and lentils. The cooked greens and lentils are mashed and a simple tempering of fried garlic with spices is added at the end. The flavor of garlic is what makes this dish divine. Soppu saaru is a comforting meal! It’s so simple to make and very nutritious too. Traditionally, it is served with Ragi Mudde or rice. Try to add as many varieties of greens as possible while making this recipe. Along with the greens, I also add some coriander stems as they are very flavorful.
When I was young, I never liked greens much. Every day, the “keerai kaara amma” or the greens lady would bring a basket overflowing with greens, harvested fresh that morning. My mom would buy greens almost every single day from her. I used to pray every day hoping she wouldn’t turn up. I never realized that it was a blessing to have such fresh produce. But things have changed for sure today and I try to include as many greens as I can every day.

Adding fresh greens makes all the difference in this recipe. Fresh greens are more nutritious too. I buy my greens from Deep Rooted.Co. Their on-time delivery makes it so easy for me to plan my meals ahead of time. Their veggies are grown on farms not very far away from our homes. Their farm-fresh produce cultivated by local farmers is delivered within 20 hours of harvest! If you are in Bangalore, do give them a try.

Here are the things you can buy online for making Soppu Saaru – Mixed Greens Mash with Lentils
3 liter Pressure Cooker
Earthen Clay Pot
Here is the video of how to make Soppu Saaru – Mixed Greens Mash with Lentils

Here is how to make Soppu Saaru – Mixed Greens Mash with Lentils
Clean and Wash the greens. Use a variety of greens for a nice flavour. You can use whatever greens you have on hand. We need roughly about 4 cups. Chop them and set aside.

Take a pressure cooker and add in the washed toor dal. Add the dal first so it cooks to a tender consistency. Add in the chopped greens, garlic, tomatoes, onions, curry leaves, green chillies, tamarind and two cups of water. I also add a few coriander stems. The stems of the coriander is more flavorful than the leaves.

Pressure cook for about 10-12 minutes on medium flame. Ignore the number of whistles. Let the pressure settle before opening.

After opening, strain the stock a little so its easy to mash. We will add the stock back later. I use a potato masher to mash the lentils. Traditionally a wooden “mathu” is used to mash. You can use whatever you are comfortable with. If you are hard pressed for time, you can even pulse it in the mixie once. But make sure that the mixture is very slightly grainy and not very smooth. Set aside.

Tempering the soppu saaru
Heat oil in a pan and add in the crushed garlic along with the peel. Roast the garlic till its crisp and light brown in colour. Add in the mustard, cumin, curry leaves and red chillies. Saute for a few seconds. Let the mustard seeds crackle.

Add in the spice powders namely hing, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Saute for a few seconds.

Add in the strained stock and the mashed green-lentil mixture. Add in the salt. Adjust the consistency of the saaru by adding little more water if necessary. Simmer for a few minutes.

Delicious Soppu Saaru is ready.

Soppu Saaru – Mixed Greens Mash with Lentils

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Soppu Saaru is a classic Karnataka home style dish that is so nutritious and makes a perfect side dish for everyday meal. Recipe with step by step pictures and video.

• Total Time: 30m
• Yield: 4-5 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Main Ingredients

1/3 cup toor dal, washed
4 cups mixed greens (coriander, methi, spinach, red amaranthus, green amaranthus etc…)
1 pod country garlic, small garlic
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/4 cup onions, roughly chopped
few coriander stems
2 sprig curry leaves
2 green chillies
1/2 gooseberry sized tamarind
2 cups water

For the Tempering

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
2 dried red chillies
1/4 teaspoon hing
1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt

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Instructions

Clean and Wash the greens. Use a variety of greens for a nice flavour. You can use whatever greens you have on hand. We need roughly about 4 cups. Chop them and set aside. Take a pressure cooker and add in the washed toor dal. Add the dal first so it cooks to a tender consistency. Add in the chopped greens, garlic, tomatoes, onions, curry leaves, green chillies, tamarind and two cups of water. I also add a few coriander stems. The stems of the coriander is more flavorful than the leaves. Pressure cook for about 10-12 minutes on medium flame. Ignore the number of whistles. Let the pressure settle before opening.

After opening, strain the stock a little so its easy to mash. We will add the stock back later. I use a potato masher to mash the lentils. Traditionally a wooden “mathu” is used to mash. You can use whatever you are comfortable with. If you are hard pressed for time, you can even pulse it in the mixie once. But make sure that the mixture is very slightly grainy and not very smooth. Set aside.

Tempering the soppu saaru
Heat oil in a pan and add in the crushed garlic along with the peel. Roast the garlic till its crisp and light brown in colour. Add in the mustard, cumin, curry leaves and red chillies. Saute for a few seconds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add in the spice powders namely hing, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Saute for a few seconds. Add in the strained stock and the mashed green-lentil mixture. Add in the salt. Adjust the consistency of the saaru by adding little more water if necessary. Simmer for a few minutes.

Delicious Soppu Saaru is ready.

• Author: Suguna Vinodh
• Prep Time: 10m
• Cook Time: 20m