Indian food is a frequent go-to when Emilie and I order out. Cambridge and Somerville have some excellent Indian restaurants, so we aren’t lacking for options. Sometimes, though, we want a dish we can make at home.

The complex spices and flavors of Indian food make it seem a bit unattainable to cook at home, but that’s simply not true. My mom and aunt have instilled an interest in bringing those flavors into our kitchen, primarily through the work of author Madhur Jaffrey. Patience to cook things slowly and a slightly more robust than average spice rack are the key qualifications here.

The various preparations for chicken and lamb on most menus are delicious, but it’s helpful to have some vegetarian options as well. Tikka masala and korma that are more gravy-like seem best with something more substantial, like eggplant.

Thus, we’ve gravitated to saag, slow-cooked and mashed spinach. It could be paired with any protein you want, but here we’ve stuck with a meatless option and used the versatile, easy-to-make paneer we told you about the other day.

This recipe isn’t too chaotic, although it will necessitate monitoring two pans at once. To make things easy for yourself, I would recommend prepping the ingredients ahead of time: measure out bowls of spices and chopped ingredients that get added at the same time so you just have one bowl you need to grab and toss into the mix.

The dish calls for ground roasted cumin seeds, which are nicely aromatic and help season the dish. If you don’t have cumin seeds, though, you can easily substitute with regular ground cumin. With the amount of liquid from the tomatoes and spinach, the flavors of the cumin and other spices will still get well distributed.

We eat this as is or sometimes add a starch like rice or naan bread to help soak up the oils and flavors. This obviously has the added benefit of stretching the recipe to more servings. 

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Saag Paneer

Indian spiced spinach with onion, tomatoes, and homemade paneer cheese. Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 5 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh spinach trimmed and chopped without stems
• 1 jalapeño chile chopped
• 3 Tbsp neutral oil vegetable or canola
• 1 small onion finely diced
• 1 inch piece of ginger grated
• 1 can of diced tomatoes or about 1 cup chopped fresh tomato if in season
• 1 tsp cornmeal
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds heat 2 tsp cumin seeds dry in a pan until they become fragrant, then grind in a mortar and pestle OR 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 small disc of paneer cut into ¾ inch pieces

Recipe

1. Boil 1 cup of water in a large pan, then add the spinach and jalapeño.
2. Cover the pan and cook for 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in another pan over medium high heat. Add onion and brown.
4. Add ginger, stir for just a moment, then add tomatoes.
5. Stirring occasionally, cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes as the tomatoes thicken.
6. Mash the spinach with a wooden spoon or potato masher until is is like a rough puree.
7. Stir the cornmeal into the spinach and cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Once cooked, add the tomato mixture into the spinach mixture, then stir in the salt, cayenne, cinnamon, and cumin.
9. Cook for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally.
10. Add the paneer and cook for another 5 or so minutes to get everything warm. Serve over rice or with naan bread.

Recommended Reading

Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian is extremely comprehensive. It has lots of very approachable recipes for Indian cooking but also highlights vegetarian ingredients from a diverse range of global cuisines.