Traditional Indian Spinach Sauce
This recipe has recently been changed to accommodate for the simple fact that organic baby spinach is sold in five ounce tubs, thus making a smaller batch is simplified. To make a larger batch, just double the recipe.
This is a 5 oz container of baby spinach.
UPDATE: The last time I made this dish, I decided to actually weigh the spinach. The container said, “5 oz.” When I weighed the contents, it turned out to be 8.5 ounces, or just over a half of pound. So, keep that in mind. And take a look at the variation we made after the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoons Oil (MCT, or olive)
½ Onion, chopped
3 Cloves Garlic
½ tablespoon Gingerroot, minced
1 teaspoon Coriander, ground
1 teaspoon Cumin, ground
½ teaspoon Fenugreek, ground
½ teaspoon Turmeric
1 teaspoons Garam Masala
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper (to taste)
5 oz Container Organic Spinach, chopped
½ cup Water
1-2 teaspoons Celtic Sea Salt (to taste)
(Add after the above is blended into a beautiful green gloop.)
½ cup Greek Yogurt
¼ cup Heavy Whipping Cream or ¼ cup Coconut Milk Powder
This is a traditional Indian sauce to which many things are added to make some fantastic dishes.
Variation
Instead of spinach, we used a combination of rainbow chard and kale. Then we did that with a bit of spinach. Each time it was wonderful. So, feel free to experiment with different greens. Just make sure you weigh out about a half a pound of the greens.
Directions
You need either a high speed blender or a NutriBullet Rx.
This is VERY simple; just take the liquids and put those in the bottom. Then add the spices.
Next chop up the onion into medium sized chunks and add that and the garlic.
The spinach leaves will be tough. You’ll notice right away that everything below blends up nicely, but the leaves just sit there on top. So, here are a two ways to blend them up.
- Chop them up into smaller chunks, add about two cups, blend, and then add more.
- Add them slowly, turning off the machine, and pressing them down.
Now, if you taste this right away, be prepared for a little shock. IT IS BITTER!
Not to worry. In America, many people when fixing Indian recipes don’t add the garum masala or fenugreek, which are very fragrant but a bit too bitter for our American tastes.
I have a solution for you, but first finish the recipe by adding the Greek Yogurt and the cream/coconut milk powder (the recipe says optional, but don’t believe that).
Here is the secret to a perfect Saag/Palak: Pour it into a Tupperware bowl, cover, and let sit overnight in the fridge. This gives all the spices time to intermingle, get acquainted, and, as my Sicilian grandmother used to add, “they make a little love.”
For ideas on how to use this, you can search the web for the many Palak recipes, or you can check out our recipe for Chicken or Shrimp Palak. But simply, in a bit of butter, fry up seafood, pork, beef, chicken, or bacon ends (talk about decadent) and when that’s done, add the green saag and bring it to a boil, and quickly serve over rice (black pearl is the best, and you know it).