Chicken Saagwala Recipe

This Chicken Saagwala recipe is a wonderful way to eat your greens. It is a perfect dish to try if you have mountains of spinach growing in the garden, or have silver beet or Swiss chard that have been growing well all winter but now you want to pull it out to plant your summer vegetable garden but don’t want to waste it.

I especially like this Indian curry because it reminds me of my travels through Northern India, particularly our stay in the town of Chanderi where we were so well looked after by our local host. His wife cooked us delicious local delicacies including this dish and we sat up on the rooftop in the relative cool of the evening listening to stories and watching his daughter showing her skills with henna painting.

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 Onions, sliced
1 tbsp ground Cumin
1 tsp ground Chilli (adjust to taste)
1/4 tsp ground Cloves
1/2 tsp ground Tumeric
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
5cm Ginger, grated
300g Spinach leaves (or Silverbeet), chopped
1 Green chilli, chopped (optional)
400g Crushed Tomatoes (can or fresh)
500g boneless skinless Chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
2 tbsp yoghurt
Lemon juice
Naan bread to serve

Heat oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onions until golden, about 5 minutes.
Add spices, garlic and ginger and fry a further 2 minutes.
Wilt spinach by blanching in hot water.  Squeeze out excess water and puree spinach with tomatoes, cooked onion and spices.
Heat a little more oil and fry the 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. Serve with yoghurt and naan bread.