I recently visited one of the most interesting foodie countries in the world – India. For 5 out of the 10 days of food research I attended my friends’ Indian wedding in Mumbai, and I was amazed with the amount of people, street noise, food from street stalls and the colour and varieties of spices on offer. It certainly added a touch of excitement to my holiday for sure!
As we are in Winter here in New Zealand and it’s spinach season, I would love to share this Saag recipe descended from Deepika’s family (one of the Indian chefs in my kitchen) to add a touch of spice to your life! I used tofu for this recipe but you can substitute with Paneer (Indian cottage cheese, easily available from an Indian shop).
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2 – 3 ppl
Ingredient:
Masala:
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 Tbsp Chickpea flour
1 Tbsp garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 (70g) red onion, finely chopped
1 fresh green chili, chopped
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 cup diced tomato (tin)
salt to taste
250g Spinach
1/2 cup full cream
200g firm tofu or Indian cottage cheese
20g fresh coriander, chopped
Method:
- Bring water to boil in a pot, add salt and blanch spinach for 30 sec. Drain the water (reserve 2-3 Tbsp of the water), put the spinach back in the pot, add the reserved water and make it into smooth puree using a hand blender. Set aside.
- Place another medium size pot over medium heat, add oil and cumin seed, wait until fragrance.
- Add chickpea flour and stir for 30sec and add garlic and ginger and stir for a minute.
- Add onion and green chili and quick stir until onions are soften and add garam masala, turmeric, red chili powder and salt to season.
- Add diced tomato and cook for couple of minutes. Masala is ready!
- Add spinach puree into the masala and cook for 5 minutes
- Add cream and season with salt
- Finally, add tofu and coriander and stir well and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Serve with home-made Roti!
Roti
Makes: 4
Cooking & prep time: 10 minutes
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup of water
knob of butter
- Mix flour and water in a bowl and knead the dough for 3-5 minutes until smooth.
- Divide the dough into 4 and make small balls with the dough.
- Dust the bench top with flour and flatten each dough using a rolling pin to 2mm thickness
- Heat a small pan over medium-high heat and place a roti on top. Cook for couple of minutes and turn over and cook the other side for another couple of minutes. If you press the dough using kitchen paper, you will feel the dough push back on your hand and start to raise a little.
- Once it’s cooked, put butter on one side and serve with Saag.
- Repeat for 4 times to cook all of the dough.
Cooking classes auckland, team building auckland, indian cooking class, saag with tofu recipe, cooking classes new zealand