Chicken Saagwala
Every Indian restaurant has a version of saagwala – it’s generally one of the healthier options as it has little to no cream, and plenty of spinach!
Ingredients
Saagwala
- 3-4 tablespoons oil e.g. soy, canola
- 2 onions sliced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1-2 teaspoons ground chilli
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 inches ginger grated
- 300 g spinach leaves chopped
- 1 large green chilli chopped
- 400 g crushed tomatoes canned
- 800 g chicken thighs skinless and boneless, cut into large chunks
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 tablespoons cream or coconut cream optional
To serve
- 2-4 naan bread or rice for GF
- raita* optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large fry pan, fry onions until golden, about 5 minutes. Add spices, garlic and ginger and fry a further 2 minutes.
- Wilt fresh spinach by blanching in boiling water or steaming in microwave. Squeeze out excess water and puree spinach with green chilli, tomatoes, cooked onions and spices.
- Season chicken with salt. Heat a little more oil in the same pan and fry chicken pieces until lightly browned.
- Add spinach puree to chicken and simmer on medium heat until chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Season with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
- Just before serving, drizzle cream over curry. Serve curry with naan bread and raita.
Notes
*To make the raita, mix 3 chopped tomatoes with ½ chopped telegraph cucumber (seeds removed), ½ small finely chopped red onion, a handful of chopped mint leaves, and 1 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt.
Don’t be alarmed at what seems like a mountain of spinach in the beginning – it all wilts down to create a rich, tasty saagwala curry. One serving of this will probably give you more greens than most people would have in a whole week!