Saag Paneer or Saag Aloo is the quintessential Indian dish – which comprises of spinach cooked in spices with pan fried Indian cheese (paneer) or fried potatoes (aloo) added.  This recipe is definitely not a traditional saag recipe and my mother does not approve of it at all.  I think, she also complains because I make it all the time and she is simply bored of eating it.  Though, the truth is, in my humble opinion, that she doesn’t like that I have modified her wonderful recipe and pass it off to my non-Indian friends as saag paneer.  To make matters worse, all of them actually love it.  It may just be a bad case of sour grapes.  Sorry Mum!

Fortunately my little one approves whole-heartedly and it has meant that spinach has been a regular part of her diet since she was a wee baby.  She eats it with rice and dhal, stuffed in quesadillas (with other things added), mixed in mac and cheese and with just about any grilled/roasted piece of meat/fish.  The possibilities for use in leftovers are endless. In fact, this dish is probably more of a spiced up steakhouse creamed spinach.  Killer with a good piece of steak and takes your dinner in a cool, fusion-y direction.  I have served it at dinner parties in this manner as well:  Steak (or even roast chicken or pork loin), this spinach/saag and roasted spiced cauliflower.  So very American Masala.  And just a little bit irreverent.

However, to appease mom and, because she has taught me a good deal about life (and cooking) and I love her, I don’t call this “saag-paneer/aloo”.  It’s an Indian spiced creamed spinach.  And I am pretty sure you will fancy it.

Indian “Creamed” Spinach

This is staple at our house and a regular at dinner parties.  My daughter has been eating this with rice since she was a year old. A great filling for quesadillas and stir in for basic mac & cheese.  A delicious side for a grilled piece of meat, chicken or fish.  In a pinch, I make it without onions or ginger and it is still quite yummy (and cooks up in a flash).  You can use chopped up fresh spinach, but I never have.

 Serves 2 adults and 2 kids

 Ingredients

•  1 lb frozen chopped spinach, thawed or unthawed
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 tbsp minced ginger (optional)
• 2-3 tbsp canola oil
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp garam masala (optional)
• ½ – 1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
• ¼ – 1/3 cup of heavy cream (add less, add more – depending on mood and size of waist on particular day.  Ok, to omit but I wouldn’t :))
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottomed skillet and add diced onion and salt to taste.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes till onion is soft and then add ginger.  Fry for about 2 minutes.
2. Push the onion and ginger mixture to the side and add remaining 1 tbsp of oil to skillet.  Add cumin seeds, coriander, chilli powder and garam masala and fry in the oil for 15-30 seconds.  Combine spices and onion mixture and fry for about a minute.
3. Add spinach, stir as needed to prevent spinach from sticking to bottom of pan.  (You can add fried paneer cubes/fried cubed potatoes at this point, if you like) It should take about 7-9 minutes for water get cooked out of the spinach
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste
5. Add heavy cream, stir to combine and simmer covered for 2 minutes.  Ready to serve.