A beautiful and stunning plus simple dish to make…..however…..the dish is named so because of the pan it’s cooked in…..a karahi pan. If you you don’t have one of these traditional Indian cast iron pans, well my friends with just be a chicken saag 😀.

The dish is named after the pan. The karahi pan is the Indian version I’d say of a Chinese wok in cooking terms. A beautiful pan which comes to temperature quickly and gives a good steady cook. Forget all the ‘hex’ pans that are being shown around at the minute at crazy prices…..get yourself one of these pans instead!! I’m sure the ‘hex’ pans are quality as all the chefs are putting their names to them along with being on every Tv show possible where cooking is involved, but really…..how much?? The every day person cannot afford these pans.

This traditional karahi pan cost under £20 from an online Indian retail store. I have two of them and if I’m honest, other than my knives they are the best piece of equipment I have in the kitchen!!! Just have to oil them regularly and they are good to go each time!!

What I also like about this dish is that for a curry is quite a slow cook – 35 / 40 minutes. Trust me, the flavours increase due to this process. This is a home cooked / family dish rather than a quick restaurant dish.

Ingredients-

Either 240g of shop bought spinach, placed in a pan of boiling water to wilt then removed from the water then blitzed or a large can of shop bought spinach (the brand HTC offer these available in all good supermarkets).

Handful of chopped fenugreek leaves.

1/2 cup of rapeseed oil.

1 tsp of cumin seeds.

2 onions finely diced.

2 tbsp of garlic & ginger paste.

5 tomatoes halved.

1 tbsp of chilli powder.

2 tsp of ground coriander.

2 tsp of ground cumin.

1/2 tsp of turmeric.

1 tbsp of natural yogurt.

1 kilo of chicken thighs.

1/4 cup of water.

2 tsp of garam masala.

Salt to taste.

Method –

Heat the oil in your karahi – or heavy bottomed pan. You will see small ripples appear in the oil. At this point add the cumin seeds. They will fizz around the oil to start with but will settle down. This flavours the oil which is a great starting point.

Follow the cumin seeds with your diced onion. You want to fry this off for 5 minutes or so until the onions start to brown also add in a pinch of salt so the onions release their moisture.

Once you’re happy with the appearance of your onions add in the garlic and ginger paste. Again, this will sizzle as it hits the hot oil. Give this a good stir around the pan for 30 seconds.

Add in your halved tomatoes and let these cook for 5 minutes.

This next bit is a new method for me. Using tongs and a knife gentle peel off the tomato skins and discard them.

Using the back of a fork or potato masher, squash the tomatoes down once the skins have been removed. This creates the base of the sauce.

Add in your dry spices – chilli powder, ground cumin and ground coriander and turmeric then give the pan a good stir.

Follow this with the natural yogurt again stirring well.

Add in your chicken and cook for 5 / 7 minutes.

The sauce will also start to thicken.

Add in the garam masala and fenugreek leaves. Give the pan a good stir. Follow this with the 1/4 cup of water.

Then add your spinach. Stir well and cook for 15 minutes or so.

After 15 minutes the dish will be this nice intense saag dish full of flavour. Season with a little more salt if required.

At the same time as starting the onion prep I put on a small pan of basmati rice. Brought this to a simmer and let it sit steaming itself at the back of the cooker. Perfect fluffy steamed rice.

I do love a saag. Thank you for reading my ramblings if you have. Again the dish and cooking has been inspired by the work of Dan Toombs.