Palong Shaak Recipe 

Your Pappu Perfect is back in the kitchen. And this time I am cooking Palong Shaak. But let me be clear, this is my first attempt at cooking any kind of Shaak or leafy green vegetables. I, nor most of the people of my generation, are fans of Shaaks. And Palong Shaak is a regular item made in our house. So unlike most other dishes, I was not really excited about tasting the food. But today was all about the journey, the cooking process of the leafy green vegetable.

Palong Shaak or Indian spinach or just spinach is as healthy as vegetables get. It might not be the super food Popeye the sailor man had us believe. Those muscles and reality alternating super powers tried to paint an attractive picture of spinach, and probably succeeded because of how much our parents want us to eat spinach and other leafy green vegetables. But the taste really holds back on the appeal. No matter how Palong Shaak or Indian spinach is cooked, I cannot voluntarily take it on my plate.

Speaking of spinach and Popeye the sailor man, did you know that the character first appeared almost 100 years back! I know this has nothing to do with cooking, but if I am making spinach I have to honor the man that popularized it throughout the world. However questionable the plot of the series may have been, it did last an impression on generations to come. And even after almost a century after its debut, one nerd thought about it as soon as he heard the word Spinach.

Now I might have liked Palong Shaak if eating it were as easy as opening a can and having the spinach jump into my mouth. Because on my own I cannot imagine myself taking the hassle of going to a bazaar, buying Palong Shaak, coming back and cleaning the green vegetables. And then proceed with the whole cooking. That is a lot of work for something that I do not like the taste of that much. But then again, imagine eating spinach straight from the can. Maybe spinach did not give Popeye the strength through nutritions. Maybe eating raw spinach is what trained up his body to do the superhuman feats he pulled off.

In Bangladesh it is common practice to eat fresh vegetables. Local bazaars bring in supplies of fresh vegetables everyday and people buy them. Shaaks are not stored in refrigerators for long either, they dry up pretty quick because they are without any preservatives. This creates another problem of creepy-crawlies. So while shopping, you have to be careful about picking vegetables that are not infested. Fortunately my father did the shopping part, and I got in my hands a fresh batch of Palong Shaak.

Now even before cooking I had to chop the Palong Shaak. The roots from every stem need to be chopped off, leaving only the green bits of the leafy green vegetable. The instructions were pretty easy, even for me. All the other ingredients were gathered as well. Now for the part where I play with fire. Under my mother’s watchful eye of course because it is her kitchen.

Following the instructions was really straight forward. Cooking Palong Shaak is really simple I have to admit. Slow cooking the onion, garlic, ginger is child’s play. But what surprised me was when my mother added the Palong Shaak. I thought there was enough Palong Shaak to feed a whole community and still have some left over. But she explained that the leafy green vegetable shrinks. And what do you know, as time went by and what do you know, as we stirred, slow cooked and let the water dry out, the vegetable really did shrink to a normal family size dish.

Just like that, the dish was ready. Moni Dadi’s recipe adds tomatoes towards the end. But that is optional. My mother’s regular recipe for Palong Shaak never has any tomatoes in it.