Saag Aloo – Spinach with Potatoes
10 Nov, 2006. 39 Comments. Leave a comment
A special request for this curry house favourite cooked the QIC way
[Note: An update to this recipe is posted here, if you've arrived here looking for a saag aloo recipe.]
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 [...]
I was looking for a saag aloo recipe and stumbled across you!!! Will try the saag aloo tonight…nice blog.. btw..i’ll have to come back to it and look at the other stuff u have…I’m the cook of the house so thanks for sharing!!
Great recipe. Simple, short, and sweet. Greetings from San Francisco! Will try this next weekend.
When someone says to use tomatoes to this to make it less bland, when do you add them?
Thanks for the recipe Mallika. I am giving it a try today for my daughter, my wife is in school.
Qucik question: Don’t we have to boil potatoes first?
Venkat
I just made this recipe … It is not good. Everyone is asking about boiling the potatoes and (shakes his head) it is just bad.
im surprised that onions wern’t mentioned in the recipe but i guess you can just add your own interpretations. i shall be trying out this recipe tomorrow as it sounds very quick and simple
The recipe is real bad!
Oh dear, a few mixed reviews here… look out for trial no 2!
Found your recipe because I couldn’t remember how I had made this dish before (probably because I threw it together one night after the pub). Your recipe seemed pretty similar to how I had made it, and I have a tin of spinach in the store cupboard that needs to be used up…..so guess what I’m having for supper?
Love a version of this sold by Waitrose but would love to cook it myself… but I’d like to add some tomatoes and coliflower… Mallika could you please explain when to add them?
One question, two comments:
Why “3 ‘medium’ potatoes” when everything else is given a precise measure (except the “salt to taste”, which is fair enough)?
If it’s 350gms of spinach, how many grams of potatoes – before peeling)?
Comment 1:
If you’re going to parboil the potatoes – after cutting to size (1-1.5 inches) – I’d recommend doing so for 2 minutes maximum
Comment 2:
If I’ve understood the research correctly it seems it is always a good idea to include tomatoes in a spinach dish as this will help the body to make best use of the beneficial elements in the spinach.
Hi Andy
Answers as follows: Because adding a little extra or less potato will not alter the taste of the dish
Comment 1: How long you parboil the potatoes depends on the quality of potatoes. Use my fork test please
Comment 2: You haven’t understood the research correctly. If you’re that keen on iron absorption from the spinach, squeeze a little lemon juice through the dish at the end. Tomatoes are just not right!
Amazing,Wonderful so tasty my husband raved about it thank you..
Heavily modified this recipe for more flavour and richness as it was very plain- came out lovely!
tin of spinach
pre boiled spuds
1 small onion chopped finely
6 cloves of garlic chopped finely
2tsp cumin
2tsp coriander
1tsp garam masala
1tsp salt (or to taste)
1tbs tomato puree
a good knob of butter too.
Steve
Turned out really well, tho I overdid parboling the potatoes and so mine turned out a bit mushy. Nice flavour. I’m taking it into work tomorrow as a change to cheese sandwiches. I used chili powder and also added some cauliflower I needed used up and that worked well with it. I only cooked it for a few. Minutes as the spinach reduced really fast. Would def use recipe again. Highly nutritious.
Good content like this isn’t found often, so I am pleased it’s here. Information like this is deserving of accolades. I see lots of comments.
this recipe should contain tomoatoes as the traditional indian recipes do…..
before raving about this recipe make sure you’ve got it right…
This is a lovely and simple recipe, my husband loved it. Don’t know what teh others are complaining about??
Scrummy, am making it again tonight!
Hi this looks great but am i being really stupid or what. Near the end of the recipe it says add spinach and masala then simmer, then add garam masala. In the list of ingrediants above i do not see ‘masala’ only the garam masala?? So how much ‘masala’ do i need to add? Want to cook this tonight to go with garlic chicken and rice – yummy!
Good recipe the simplicity means you get the taste of the ingredients. Fried garlic & chilli gives the main character. Eat with a good lamb curry . I love brown basmati with black cardamom
I really enjoyed this, Thank you. I used fresh, lightly steamed spinach and small boiling potatoes that I didn’t peel, and added diced tomatoes toward the end.
I loved it, easy and tasty business.
Carla, I believe the masala refers to the spice mix already in the pan.
Delightful style of writing. Will be back to read more!