I am so so so much excited to write and share this recipe with you because for living the last 10 years in Europe I have knew this specific leafy vegetable to be found in Denmark! Yes I am talking about the Jute mallow or in Bangla we call it Paat Shak. It has many other names around the world like Molokhia, Jew’s Mallow, Egyptian Spinach, Bush okra but it all actually means the same plant called Corchorus olitorius. It is the perfect plant for hot and humid summer, so in Bangladesh we find them in abundance. This plant is also grown in Bangladesh for I want to thank a random facebook group where I first learned that jute mallow can be found in frozen section. Normally we get lots of fresh leafy greens in Bangladeshi shops in Copenhagen but I never saw this particular one, so I was beyond excited to try this even though it was frozen (well, we eat frozen spinach here, so what’s wrong with frozen jute mallow!).

I tried to cook this frozen jute mallow like a normal stir fry recipe with a few simple ingredients – onion, garlic, red chili, salt and oil. Jute mallow becomes slimy when cooked from frozen so I used a bit more oil than usual.

Since there’s no prepping for the leaves, I started directly with heating vegetable oil and then adding dried red chili, onion and garlic. Please don’t make a mistake like mine- adding everything together at once. If you really want a great Bangladeshi flavor, add first the chilies, let them puff, and then add garlic and cook until release aroma and at last, add onion.

Onions are cooked to brown so I added the whole frozen block of jute mallow. I did not defrosted the block since it will be releasing waters and be cooked on its own. I covered the pan with lid to speed the process. Please must keep the temperature at low otherwise the onions will get burned.

I checked the pan once in a while and flipped the block from one side to another to speed the defrosting process.

Jute Mallow has fully defrosted so I started to stir them occasionally. It has not much of a moisture but do have a slimy texture. So we need to stir it often.

Whilst the mallows getting cooked and shrunk in volume, I added salt. It is a good idea to add salt later, as the volume of leaves tricks us to add more.

I cooked and stirred jute mallows until the slimy texture get reduced as much as possible.

Here’s what it looked like after cooking frozen Jute mallow or Molokhia leaves. I am beyond the moon to discover this vegetable in Denmark and it will definitely be in my palate every week!

Recipe: Jute Mallow Stir fry-serves four

Frozen Jute Mallow – 400g Onion – 1 medium Garlic – few cloves (as per taste) Dry red chili – as per taste Salt – as required Oil – as required

1. In a pan, heat oil and add dried red chili, sliced onion and garlic. Fry them until onion garlic are golden brown. 2. Add frozen jute mallow block and cover them to get defrosted. Keep the stove temperature at low. 3. Take out the cover once in a while and flip the block from side to side. 4. When leaves are deconstructed, continue to stir them until shrunk. 5. When all leaves gets into smaller volume, add salt. Continue stirring until water get evaporated and slimy texture reduced. When done, put in a serving bowl. Serve with rice. Enjoy!