Indian-Spiced Spinach (Saag)

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Layered with flavour, but simple to prepare, this Indian-inspired spinach dish comes together in about 30 minutes. This is a versatile dish that can be served as a main or a side. You can make it vegan or vegetarian or add chicken to it. If you are vegetarian or omnivore, you can also fortify it with paneer, which is fresh Indian cheese made from whole milk. However you choose make it, Saag pairs perfectly with something starchy such as rice or naan bread.

TL;DR Summary of Making Spicy Indian Spinach (Saag)

The Ingredients

This Indian-Spiced Spinach starts with frozen spinach. You could also use fresh spinach if you like, you’ll just need to steam and drain it. You’ll need about 10 cups of fresh spinach.

This spinach is made oh-so-flavourful with a full-on bouquet of aromatics, starting with onion, ginger, and garlic. The dry spices are coriander, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes for a bit of heat. You can leave out the pepper flakes if you like spice but not heat. Finally, you need a little bit of neutral oil for frying and your choice of plain yogurt for finishing the dish.

Variations

You can vary this recipe by adding paneer, which is a fresh Indian cheese made with whole milk. You can purchase store-bought paneer or make your own. Most large grocery stores or Indian groceries will carry paneer.

Although it’s not traditional, you can also stir in cooked cubed chicken.

Making Indian-Spiced Spinach: The Process

This dish starts with frozen spinach. Cook the spinach according to the package instructions, then drain and then set aside.

Next, add the oil to the frying pan and fry the onions, ginger, and garlic for about 4-5 minutes until starting to brown slightly. Add in all of the dry spices and continue frying for about 15 more minutes. You’ll need to stir this every few minutes. The mixture will get dryer as you fry it. Add a tablespoon of water whenever you need to, to prevent the mixture from burning or sticking to the pan. After you’ve finished cooking the spice mix, stir in the spinach and yogurt and cook until heated through. Almost done! The last step is to blend the spinach. You can blend it right in the pot using a hand blender (immersion blender) or transfer it to a blender.

If you want to make either of the variations – with paneer or with chicken, you just add these in at the end and heat through.

Adapted From

This recipe was adapted from Aarti Sequeira’s Paneer: Spinach with Indian Cheese recipe.

Making this for Mixed Diets?

This Indian-Spiced Spinach is super easy to make vegan or vegetarian, or even both. If you’re making both versions, the process and ingredients are identical until the very end, where you add the yogurt and heat through. You can also simplify the cooking by omitting the yogurt and allowing dinners to add their own.

If you are making one of the variations, with paneer or with chicken, you also add those ingredients at the end and just heat through.

Indian-Spiced Spinach (Saag)

Indian-Spiced Spinach (also known as Saag) is a gluten-free side dish that can be made vegan or vegetarian, or with chicken. Layered with Indian flavours (onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, and cardamom), but simple to prepare, you can make it in about 30 minutes. Makes 4 servings. 

5 from 10 votes

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Course: dinner, lunch, side

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Indian spinach, palak paneer, spicy saag

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 healthy servings

Calories: 125kcal

Author: sylvia

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
• 1/2 cup onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 300 grams frozen spinach
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• salt to taste
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt {dairy or non-dairy, do not use sweetened yogurt}

Vegetarian Variation

• 1/2 cup paneer, per person

Meat-eater Variation

• 1 cup cooked chicken, per person

Instructions

• Defrost and cook the spinach according to the package directions. Set aside
• Fry the onions, ginger, and garlic in the oil over medium heat, for about 4 or 5 minutes or until lightly browning. 
• Add the dry spices and continue frying fo another 15 minutes. You will need to stir this every few minutes or so. The mixture will get dryer as you fry it. Add a tablespoon of water when it gets too dry.
• Add the spinach and yogurt and heat through.
• Blend until the spinach is your desired consistency. Taste, and add salt as needed. Salt will bring out all of the flavours.

For variations

• Stir in the paneer and/or chicken and heat through.

Notes

Adapted From

This recipe was adapted from Aarti Sequeira’s Paneer: Spinach with Indian Cheese recipe. 

Using Fresh Spinach

You can make this recipe with fresh spinach as well. You will need about 10 cups of spinach. Steam it, then drain and chop it and set aside.

Storage and Reheating

This will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. Reheat it over low heat and add water as needed to thin it to your desired consistency. 

Nutritional Information 

Nutritional information is an estimate only and is based on using dairy yogurt, and without the variations. 

 

 

Nutrition

Calories: 125kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 76mg | Potassium: 384mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 8900IU | Vitamin C: 6.8mg | Calcium: 162mg | Iron: 2mg

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