I never thought that I would grow Lal Shak in my own kitchen garden, harvest them and eat them while living in Denmark! I tried to grow them before but the mission was failed. This year, even though the summer was too wet, the Lal shak (red amaranth) grew in my small garden and I feel lucky to have them!

Although to be honest this Lal shak is not exactly the lal shak that I grew up with. In our childhood in Bangladesh, the lal shak we used to eat was almost purple-red, made our rice stained like a blood! This lal shak I grew seemed more like Data/dara shak, more greenish than red. But this was the only variety I found in Bangladesh (what else to do!)

As usual, the ingredients are pretty simple for the stir fry aka shak vaji. We just need some vegetable oil, garlic and green chili as much as you like and some onion and salt- that’s it!

Before removing the stalks and roots, I washed the leaves thoroughly with cold water. As a kid I hated this part – washing and removing stalks, as it was very tedious and difficult to remove all the dirt from leaves. Also I had to wash them carefully so the leaves don’t get wilted! I always wanted to remove root first, then wash to make the work easier, but no way my mother allowed it, because she used to say that it would remove all the vitamins (which is true). Luckily I removed as much soil as possible so it was too difficult to clean.

Next step would be to remove the roots and harder parts of the stalks. You can do it one by one or if you are lazy like me 😉 , then gather all and cut the bottom with a knife -easy!

I roughly chopped the leaves. It will not matter mostly because all leaves are going to wilt and shrink in oil.

I sauteed some onion, garlic and chili in oil until they are golden brown. Then I added roughly chopped leaves to the pan. I did not put salt at this moment because I would like to see the volume of the leaves after shrinking, so I don’t put too much salt earlier.

After a few minutes later, when leaves got shrinked, I added salt and green chilies. But careful not to add too much salt, as there will be no other way to reduce them.

As the amount of the leaves are not too much, it will take less than 10 minutes to complete the cooking. You can see the volume got reduced, color changed to more bright reddish so it means the leaves are cooked. Now its just time to eat them with rice!

If you are bit adventurous, you can cook them with other leaves like spinach or swish chard. However, truly speaking Lal shak is best as it is. I hope you get the chance to eat this Bangladeshi style gorgeous, vibrant and nutritious greens (or red!) someday!

Recipe: Red Amaranth Stir Fry leaves

Red Amaranth leaves Onion – 1 Garlic – few cloves (as per taste) Green chili – as per taste Salt – as required Oil

1. Wash red amaranth leaves until dirt free and discard unwanted parts like roots. 2. Roughly chop leaves. 3. In a pan, heat oil and add sliced onion and garlic. Fry them until onion garlic are golden brown. 4. Add chopped leaves and continue to stir them until wilted. 5. When all leaves get wilted, add salt and sliced green chilies. 6. Stir fry leaves until they get cooked. Serve with rice. Enjoy!