Wednesday 2 October 2013

Chana Saag

When I went to an Indian restaurant about two years ago, I was accompanied with three others, we decided to pick on main dish each so that we could all try different things. The lads went for the obviously tasty dishes, like korma, tikka masala, and curry, but IIIII decided to be a little "untraditional" with my choice and settled for a chicken saag! I am sure I posted the recipe for chicken saag some time ago, yup! It should be on my blog somewhere!

Saag is a dish that is made with a rich spinach sauce as a base, infused with ginger and garlic. It might look a little weird when you have it served, but it oozes of Indian-style spices and herbs, and it tastes delicious! Serve it over a bed of rice, or perhaps with some pita bread for mopping like I did (mop, mop!)

Chana Saag
(Serves 2, about 265 calories each without pita bread/naan/rice)


For the paste:
160g spinach, washed and roughly torn
Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 fat garlic clove, chopped or sliced
1 jalapeño, chopped (optionally deseeded)
1/2 cup water (about 125ml)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 onion, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp Garam Masala (can use curry powder)
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp natural fat-free yogurt
1 can of chickpeas à 180g drained

Extra yogurt, rice, pita bread or naan to serve!

- Firstly, add all the ingredients for the paste in a bowl or a food processor and whizz until smooth. Set aside, you'll need it soon!

- Heat the oil in a pot on medium high heat, and tip in the onion, bay leaves and peppercorns. Leave this to simmer for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point, if serving with rice, you'd probably get them on the boil!

- Now add the tomatoes, Garam Masala, chilli powder and salt. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes start to break up (mine didn't, but it's really not important!)

- Then pour in the spinach paste, yogurt and chickpeas. Cover and simmer for a further 10 minutes, stirring every now and again.

- Toast or grill the bread if you're serving that with the dish, and you're done! Top with extra yogurt if you want!


Original source:
http://www.healthy-delicious.com/2010/11/chana-saag-chickpeas-with-spinach/

- Jules

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