SAAG (INDIAN SPINACH)

Saag (Indian Spinach) image

An Indian spinach dish similar to that served in Indian restaurants. This is great as a main course or served as part of a larger meal. Serve with basmati rice and a little raita if you like. The dish is also great with the addition of paneer cubes or boiled potatoes - though I love it plain.

Provided by GreenGal

Categories Spinach

Time 50m

Yield 4-6 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 15

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 -3 teaspoons garam masala (I use McCormick)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15 ounce) can tomatoes, diced including juice or 1 cup tomatoes, chopped
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 1/4 teaspoons curry powder (I use McCormick Red Curry Powder)
1 1/4-1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen leaf spinach
salt
water

Steps:

In a large saucepan, saute onion in oil on medium high along with ginger and garam masala until onions are translucent and begin to pick up some color.
Add minced garlic to pan, and cook briefly to soften. Do not allow the garlic to burn - lower heat if necessary.
Add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Incidentally, you can add a little more or less tomato depending on what you have available, slight differences in quantity will not be noticeable.
Stir in yogurt. Do not worry if the yogurt separates.
Add curry powder, coriander, cumin, sugar, and salt.
Add bag of frozen spinach and mix well to combine. There is no need to defrost first if you use a the bagged spinach. If you are using the frozen block, I would advise defrosting first. You can also use the equivalent of fresh spinach.
Add about a cup of water to the pot and cover. Simmer on medium for approximately 30 minutes. Spinach is done when the color has changed from the initial bright green to a much less vibrant green (almost brownish). If you crank up the heat, it is possible to cook this a little faster, but you have to pay attention to the moisture level. You may have to add more water throughout the cooking process if it cooks off.
Once the spinach is fully cooked, remove the lid and cook off any remaining liquid. The spinach should be moist, but there should not be much liquid free in the bottom of the pan.
Remove pan from heat.
Using an immersion blender, blender, or food processor, puree the spinach. Leave it as chunky as you like. You can also choose to puree only half of the mixture if you like bigger pieces of spinach.
Add further salt to taste.
I have found that I have to fine tune the spices every time I make this dish depending on how I feel that day. For me, adding further small amounts of coriander is the key.
If you like, potatoes, paneer cubes or chick peas may be added at this point.
***NOTE*** It is very helpful to prepare all ingredients in advance of cooking so that they can be added quickly during the cooking process. I recommend combining the components of each step beforehand (i.e. pre-measuring the spices together) so that you can just dump everything in quickly as you go.