simple sag aloo!
July 15, 2011 § 1 Comment
Sag aloo [or saag aloo or even saag aluu] is one of those amazing things that if you’ve never had it you’ll never miss it, but it’s so cheap and easy that once you have in your repertoire it’s very tempting to trot out at any given opportunity. Usually served with roti bread, or nan or even rice, it’s a sort of catch-all term for leafy greens – usually spinach [sag] and potatoes [aloo] that are fried in mustard seeds and other spices. I usually team it up with a meaty curry, but sometimes it’s just as nice on its own, which is what myself and husband refer to as ‘pauper’s curry’ as it’s a really dirt cheap meal when you’re craving spice and carbs. Mmmmmmm…… spicy caaaaaaarbs……
First, I got ready what I call the holy trinity of sag aloo – heat, flavour, and garlic. The exact quantities of each can be tweaked to your taste, but they basically consist of chilli powder [or chilli flakes, or even a fresh chilli minced up finely!], minced garlic cloves, then mustard seeds, turmeric and ground cumin. I used good heaped teaspoon of each of the spices [and - as I wasn't going to be leaving the house and talking to people!] four large cloves of garlic.
So this next thing I did was gently fry a chopped red onion in a wee bit of olive oil. Not until it was cooked through or translucent though – otherwise it would burn throughout the rest of the cooking later – just a minute or two in the pan is fine. Then I threw in the turmeric, mustard and cumin and fried it for 2 or 3 minutes to release all the flavours…
Then in with the garlic, and chilli…
…and after you give it a wee stir – in with some spuds. These are little new potatoes that I’ve parboiled for a few minutes and quartered. I left the skins on but if you’re of the ilk that likes to peel things unnecessarily then you can remove them. A good gentle stir around then, and let them fry. You want to keep them moving every so often though, and try to get a little crispy crust on the spuds. In a good HOT pan this could take about ten minutes or more.
While that’s doing it’s thing, I chopped a big handful or two of spinach. I love spinach so I add loads – it wilts down to nothing though, so however much you think you’ll like, quadruple it. Just a rough chop will do, or if you’re lazy you could leave out the chopping altogether and just bung it in…
By now my spuds had nice crispy edges, so once I stirred in the spinach and let it wilt down, I added about a tablespoon of torn fresh coriander…
…and it’s done! Onto plates, with some homemade nan and a little tomato and mint raita which is just low-fat natural yoghurt with tomato purée and dried mint, left to sit in the fridge for an hour or two till the flavour develops. You can use fresh mint instead if you have it, in which case you’ll get a slightly more bitter minty flavour, but the added bonus of bright green raita!
…NOM!
ohw, thanks! this recipe is what i will use for the new potatoes and the slightly swiss chard leaves -both from own veggie plot-. tomorrow will be the day!