Saag Aloo – Spinach with Potatoes
10 Nov, 2006. 15 Comments. Leave a comment
A special request for this curry house favourite cooked he QIC way
My kitchen is soon going to be a hotbed of pure beauty and I’m not talking about the aloo gobi, tarka dhal and saag aloo I’ll be cooking.
In a fit of madness I invited my colleagues from our consumer PR division home for a live cookery session and dinner party.
I say madness because a) there are 7 of them and b) all seven aren’t exactly renowned for their culinary prowess. These girls are also all, and I mean all, stunningly gorgeous, stick thin and super sweet.
I think I’ll just go and be sick now.
Anyway, on the subject of saag aloo. My Iranian colleague Natasha requested it for the live demonstration. I’ve never eaten this in India buts it’s a hugely popular Indian vegetarian dish in the UK.
I wouldn’t naturally put the two most bland ingredients together – potatoes and spinach. But then once the masalas get going, that’s when the fun begins for a lot of Indian dishes – like lentils for example.
So as a trial run, I decided to cook saag aloo for the first time and get my recipe ready for the girlies. I had to be conscious that they don’t own high-tech kitchen gadgets like blenders or garlic presses when assembling the dish.
There’s a different version of the same dish with paneer here, but my recipe to serve 3-4 is as follows:
350 gms of pureed spinach (I used a tin)
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1 fresh green chilli, chopped fine
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
Half tsp garam masala
1 tablespoon oil (any flavourless)
Salt to taste
Heat the oil and when hot fry the garlic and the green chilli. Take care not to let the garlic stick to the bottom of the pan adding a bit of hot water if necessary.
When the garlic starts going brown, add the cumin and coriander. Stir for two minutes and chuck all the potatoes in. Fry for a couple of minutes until you see the sides of the potatoes going translucent.
Then stir in the spinach, mixing the masala into it evenly. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes stirring regularly.
Stir in the garam masala powder and simmer for another two minutes or so. Add salt to taste. It was actually quite satisfying – tasty and healthy. Hope they agree..
nice blog Mallika, don’t know from where I jumped to your blog, was nice going th’ your blog.
hey .. mine looked all smudgy but thats my unstoppable habit of preboiling potatoes; it was yummmmy!
I’ve been looking everywhere for this recipe, and as I couldn’t find it in any of my Indian/Curry cookbooks, I gathered it’s not very common dish in India after all. I used to pop over to an Indian restaurant in Edinburgh to satisfy my saag aloo cravings, but as I’ve now moved back to Estonia, I need to cook one myself:)
Thanks for the recipe!
PS Found my way here through Sam’s Becks&Posh.
Very nice blog!!!
I recently discovered Indian cuisine and soon became an addict. This spinach and potato dish looks amazing.
do you parboil the potatoes or something first? doesn’t seem like they’d cook that fast if not. I’m getting ready to make…
This recipe is hard to find because its ‘proper’ name is palak aloo{ spinish(palak) potato(aloo)}. many people think saag is spinich, but my pakistani friend has informed me that it is not.
Substitute turnip greens for the spinach! No, really. I didn’t have spinach and thought I was dooming myself with this switch, but WOW! It worked. I’ve had this dish before and liked it. It tastes right, though maybe even better this way. Go figure! I used Sunshine brand turnip greens. Great recipe–thanks so much.
[...] Saag Aloo (w/ leftover potatoes) [...]
Another fabulous recipe. I loved it. I always wondered what to do with canned spinach…now I know. Thanks.
Thank you – this is one of my favourite indian dishes as a vegie. Its nice to have a simple recipy to try that doesn’t have too many exotic bits to buy!!
I parboiled the potatoes and mashed up steamed greens, organic and local (Devon in this instance). They worked a treat in the pan with the frying chillis, garlic and garam masala. Your recipe made me feel safe about adding wetness from the vegetables to the spicy oil in the pan. I have eaten sag aloo many times in an Indian restaurant but never at home. Thank you.
Thanks for that … mate wanted me to bring Saag Aloo as contribution for dinner and your super quick easy recipe was winner especially as I’m really tired!
We did this the other night for friends and I can not believe how good it turned out. We were all inpressed so doing it again for different friends tonight. So simple to follow and so easy. ENJOYED> thanks
You might want to add tomatoes to this to make it less bland.
[...] Indian vegetable dish of mine. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to make. I started out with this general recipe, but I added tomatoes and some water to allow the potatoes to cook. (I should have par-boiled the [...]