Low Fat California Saag Recipes

LOW FAT CALIFORNIA SAAG

Steps:

• Add vegetable oil to hot pan.
• If using meat, brown the meat now and remove.
• Add diced onions and salt to hot pan. Cook over medium heat until translucent, maybe 3 minutes.
• Add curry powder and 1/2 cup yogurt. Boost heat to high. Yogurt will quickly break-down, then it will combine with the oil, onions and curry powder. Cook until fragrant.
• Reduce heat to medium-high.
• Add red peppers and cook for 1 minute.
• Add spinach and cook until warm.
• Combine corn starch and 1/2 cup water. Mix thoroughly.
• Add corn starch slurry to pan. Stir constantly until thickened.
• Reduce heat to low.
• Check seasoning. It should be hotter than you'd like, since the rest of the yogurt will absorb quite a bit of heat. You may also want to add more curry powder,.
• Check thickness. Add water if too thick, or boost heat to medium and reduce if too thin.
• If you're using meat, add it, and any juices that have collected, into the pan.
• Add the rest of the yogurt and mix in well. Check seasoning again. Remove from heat.
• Serve over rice.

INDIAN SAAG

Steps:

• In a large skillet or wok, melt butter over medium-high heat, and cook and stir cumin seed, chile pepper, garlic, and turmeric until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the chopped mustard greens and spinach a little at a time, adding the tougher parts first (the stems and thicker leaves). Continue to add greens, and cook and stir until all greens have been added and all are thoroughly wilted. Stir in the cumin, coriander, and salt. Cover; reduce heat and simmer until greens are tender, about 10 minutes, adding water as needed to keep the greens moist.

SPINACH SAAG

Steps:

• Boil spinach until most all of the water has boiled out, set aside. (Puree spinach in food processor or blender).
• Saute onions until golden. Add tomatoes, ginger and garlic. Mix well, add dry seasoning.
• Stir constantly until it thickens, then add spinach, mix well.
• Cook 2 minutes. Salt to taste.
• Turn off heat, add plain yogurt a little at a time.
• Serve with basmati rice.

SAAG (INDIAN SPINACH)

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute onion in oil on medium high along with ginger and garam masala until onions are translucent and begin to pick up some color.
• Add minced garlic to pan, and cook briefly to soften. Do not allow the garlic to burn - lower heat if necessary.
• Add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Incidentally, you can add a little more or less tomato depending on what you have available, slight differences in quantity will not be noticeable.
• Stir in yogurt. Do not worry if the yogurt separates.
• Add curry powder, coriander, cumin, sugar, and salt.
• Add bag of frozen spinach and mix well to combine. There is no need to defrost first if you use a the bagged spinach. If you are using the frozen block, I would advise defrosting first. You can also use the equivalent of fresh spinach.
• Add about a cup of water to the pot and cover. Simmer on medium for approximately 30 minutes. Spinach is done when the color has changed from the initial bright green to a much less vibrant green (almost brownish). If you crank up the heat, it is possible to cook this a little faster, but you have to pay attention to the moisture level. You may have to add more water throughout the cooking process if it cooks off.
• Once the spinach is fully cooked, remove the lid and cook off any remaining liquid. The spinach should be moist, but there should not be much liquid free in the bottom of the pan.
• Remove pan from heat.
• Using an immersion blender, blender, or food processor, puree the spinach. Leave it as chunky as you like. You can also choose to puree only half of the mixture if you like bigger pieces of spinach.
• Add further salt to taste.
• I have found that I have to fine tune the spices every time I make this dish depending on how I feel that day. For me, adding further small amounts of coriander is the key.
• If you like, potatoes, paneer cubes or chick peas may be added at this point.
• ***NOTE*** It is very helpful to prepare all ingredients in advance of cooking so that they can be added quickly during the cooking process. I recommend combining the components of each step beforehand (i.e. pre-measuring the spices together) so that you can just dump everything in quickly as you go.

INDIAN SAAG PANEER (LOW FAT CHEESE WITH SPINACH)

Steps:

• Use cooking spray and heat garlic and ginger over medium-high heat till golden brown.
• Stir in tomato sauce, coriander, cumin, pepper, masala, salt, and reduce heat to low. Partially cover and summer for 8-9 minutes stirring frequently.
• Stir in spinach. Simmer 8-10 minutes until spinach turns olive green.
• Stir in whipping cream.
• Stir in cheese. Simmer for 3-4 minutes or until cheese is hot and remove from stove.

LAMB SAAG

Steps:

• Remove seeds and white membrane from the chilli and chop finely.
• Set aside with garlic and ginger.
• Heat 2 Tbsp oil in frying pan and brown the lamb in batches, drain on paper towel.
• In a dry frying pan combine fenugreek, cumin, mustard, cinnamon and cardamon.
• Cook for 1 minute or until seeds start to pop.
• Set aside. Heat remaining oil and cook onion until softened, 3-4 minutes, then add roasted spices.
• Add garlic, ginger, chilie, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, coriander and bay leaves to onion.
• Cook for 1 minute, then add lamb and stock.
• Bring to boil then reduce heat to low and cook, covered for 1 1/4 hours.
• Stirring occasionally.
• Add spinach and salt, cook for 5 more minutes or until spinach is wilted.
• Stir in coriander and yoghurt, discard cinnamon stick and bay leaves and serve.

CHANA SAAG

Steps:

• Rinse chickpeas and roughly chop baby spinach.
• Heat oil over medium heat. Add cardamom and cinnamon. Wait for a minute.
• Increase heat to medium-high. Add garlic and cook till it starts to change color. Then add onions and sauté until golden.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add turmeric powder, ground coriander, chili powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well for a minute.
• Add ginger. Stir for a few seconds. Add tomatoes and sauté for 3-4 minutes till well blended.
• Add chickpeas. Stir fry for 4-5 minutes. Cook covered for 10 minutes until chickpeas turn slightly soft.
• Add half of the spinach, stir, and put lid on saucepan for 1 minute. Remove lid and add the other half of the spinach and repeat the covering process.
• Remove lid and simmer uncovered for 10 minute, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in yogurt, or use as topping
• Serve hot with Basmati rice or potatoes.

MIXED GREENS (SAAG)

Steps:

• If using fresh greens, trim and remove all fibrous material, and wash in a colander immersed in a large bowl filled with water; dirt will settle down.
• Remove the colander and throw away the water.
• Repeat until water is clear.
• Chop or tear the leaves and boil them in about 3 cups of water and salt, on medium to high heat, for about 10 minutes until soft.
• When little cool, give it a few rounds in the food processor or blender to make it smooth and creamy, adding corn flour, fenugreek leaves, and tomatoes.
• Add more water as needed.
• Heat the oil in a 4 quart pot on medium to high heat.
• Add garlic.
• Add ginger, cumin powder and coriander powder.
• Stir for a minute.
• Stir in the cooked greens gradually (making sure there are no lumps).
• Add the remaining seasonings.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, and let it simmer for 20 minutes until everything is mixed and Saag is to your taste.