Saag Aloo/Paneer/Tofu
Serves 4
Prep: 10 mins. Cooking: 40 - 50 mins (the paneer and tofu can be fried whilst the spinach and tarka are cooking) plus paneer making time if not made ahead of time or using shop bought paneer.
Traditional saag is made with fresh spinach, mustard and fenugreek leaves but if these are not available then by all means use frozen spinach, making sure it is the tender baby spinach variety. For those wishing to make traditional North Indian saag I have listed the ingredients below in italics.
Vegetarian, vegan and those on a gluten-free diet
Serve with chapatis or paranthas, rice and a dal if needed
Saag Aloo made with fresh greens (first crop) from the garden…
Ingredients:
1kg frozen whole leaf spinach (preferably baby spinach) plus 300g frozen broccoli heads, defrosted OR (fresh greens made up of 400g spinach leaves, 400g mustard leaves and leaves from one large bunch of fenugreek, washed and chopped)
100ml water, (250ml water)
30g chickpea flour, sifted
250g paneer, preferably home made or tofu. (Can be made ahead of time, fried lightly and frozen until needed) OR 300g of waxy potatoes cubed (small cubes about 1cm in size parboiled for 5 minutes)
Tarka ingredients:
50g ghee/butter/Vegan Block butter (I use Naturli Vegan Block Butter)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 small onion
1 medium/large plum tomato, skinned and chopped or 3 tablespoons of canned chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1½ - 2 green chillies
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon garam masala
Method:
Place the defrosted spinach (including the water from the defrosted spinach) or fresh greens and the corresponding amount of water into a pressure cooker. Add an additional 100ml of water.
Pressure cook for 10 minutes from when the pressure is achieved in the pressure cooker. After the 10 minutes are up, turn off the heat and allow to cool. Ensure no pressure remains in the pressure cooker before taking off the lid.
In a separate pan parboil the cubed potatoes (for saag aloo) for about five minutes.
Whilst the spinach is cooking, in a separate pan, make the tarka. Heat the butter or ghee on medium heat until fairly hot (be careful with butter/ghee as these have lower smoking points). Add the cumin seeds and cloves and stir until they splutter (virtually immediately)
Turn the heat down to low/medium, add the onions and fry gently stirring occasionally until they soften.
Add the tomatoes, salt, turmeric, chillies, garlic, ginger stir. Continue to cook gently, ‘mashing’ the tomatoes until a paste like consistency forms. I use a potato masher.
Add the garam masala, stir and cook for a further minute or so or until oil oozes out of the paste when a wooden spoon is dragged along the base of the pan
Cube and either shallow or deep fry the paneer or tofu (for saag paneer or saag tofu) until lightly golden in colour. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.
Once the spinach has cooled down, add the sifted chickpea flour, stir gently and then blitz with a hand held blender for a couple of minutes until the spinach is smooth.
Add the spinach/chickpea flour mixture to the tarka, stir to combine. Cook with the lid on for a couple of minutes.
Add the fried paneer or potatoes, stir and combine with the spinach.
Simmer gently with the lid on for 20 - 30 minutes or so stirring occasionally. If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan towards the end of the cooking time, turn down the heat, remove the lid and stir more often until all the liquid has evaporated.
The saag paneer/tofu/aloo is ready when a wooden spoon is dragged through the mixture leaves an almost clear channel. Droplets of ghee may also be visible.
Serve hot. Finger licking delicious!