Indian Spinach With Tomatoes Recipes

SAAG (INDIAN SPINACH)

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.

ALOO PALAK (STIR-FRIED INDIAN POTATOES AND SPINACH)

Steps:

• Grind garlic and ginger together to make a paste.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion in the hot oil until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add cumin, coriander, cayenne, and turmeric. Add ginger-garlic paste. Mix well. Stir in remaining oil, potatoes, and tomatoes; cook until oil leaves the side of the pan, about 5 minutes. Add spinach and salt; continue to cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Serve.

CHICKPEAS WITH TOMATOES & SPINACH

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion over a low heat until softened. Stir in the garlic, ginger and chillies and cook for a further 5 mins until the onions are golden and the garlic slightly toasted.
• Add the turmeric, garam masala and cumin, stirring over a low heat for a few secs. Tip in the chopped tomatoes and add the tomato purée, then simmer for 5 mins.
• Add the chickpeas to the pan with 300ml water (fill the can three-quarters full). Simmer for 10 mins before stirring in the spinach to wilt. Season and serve with rice or naan.

SPINACH WITH TOMATO (SAAG)

Steps:

• Put the oil in a large, wide pot and set over medium-high heat. When very hot, put in the chile, onions and garlic. Stir and fry until the onions turn medium brown. Add the tomato. Stir and fry for 2 minutes. Now put in the spinach and salt. Cover, allowing the spinach to wilt. Stir, turn the heat to medium, cover again, and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover, add the garam masala, and stir. Cook, uncovered, another 5 to 6 minutes, or until almost no liquid is left is left at the bottom of the pan. Turn up the heat during this period, if needed.

INDIAN SPINACH WITH TOMATOES

Steps:

• Wash spinach; shake dry and stem. Slice into 1-inch strips.
• Heat ghee in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until golden and soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
• Add ginger paste and toss gently to incorporate. Stir in chile powder, turmeric, garam masala, coriander seeds, peppers, salt, coriander, and cumin. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add spinach and coat well; add tomatoes with 1/2 of their juice. Bring mixture to a rapid boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the spinach and tomatoes have cooked down, 5 to 10 minutes.

INDIAN STYLE SPINACH WITH FRESH CHEESE (SAAG PANEER) - COOK'S IL

Steps:

• Line a colander with a triple layer of cheesecloth and set in sink. Bring milk to boil in large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Whisk in buttermilk and salt and remove from heat. Let stand 1 minute. Pour through cheesecloth let drain 15 minutes.
• Pull together edges of cheesecloth to form pouch. Twist pouch, extracting as much liquid as possible. Place pouch between two plates and set a heavy pot on the top plate. Let stand at room temperature 45 minutes, or until cheese is firm and set. Drain whey as often as necessary. (Cheese can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated up to 3 days at this point.) Unwrap and dice cheese into 1/2" pieces.
• Place spinach in large bowl and microwave on high until wilted, about 3 minutes. Let cool until it can be handled.
• Chop enough spinach to make 1/2 cup and set aside. Place remaining spinach in blender container.
• Wilt mustard greens in same bowl in microwave, about 4 minutes. Let it cool until it can be handled.
• Chop enough mustard greens to make 1/2 cup and set aside with chopped spinach. Add remaining mustard greens to blender container.
• Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds, coriander, paprika, cardamom, and cinnamon, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add onion and 3/4 tsp salt; cook until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and jalapeno, and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until pan is dry and tomatoes are beginning to brown, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer half the mixture to the blender.
• Add half the cashews and all the water to the blender. Process on high until smooth, about 1 minute. Add puree to skillet and return to medium-high heat. Add reserved greens and buttermilk and bring to simmer. Reduce to low, cover, and cook until flavors blend, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Gently fold in cheese cubes and cook until hot, 1-2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with remaining cashews and cilantro.