Upon moving to NYC, I was exposed to so many new cuisines. One of my favorites is Indian. And one of my favorite things to order (besides the naan bread!) is Chicken Saagwala. This is completely different from all of the other curries. Rich yet light, healthy from all of the spinach. No cream or coconut milk so it's nice to my tummy. Most people are more familiar with Palak Paneer, a similar dish made with a fresh farmer's cheese.
While in grad school when I was poor and getting into cooking, I discovered the Delhi Saag in a can by Jyoti company. This won a spot on the weekly dinner rotation. Often getting two days because of all of the leftovers.
Now that I'm making more and more things from scratch, I wanted to find a way to make Saagwala without using bunches and bunches of spinach and without standing over a hot stove for hours. Last night I finally attempted to make it. I started with this recipe from Ruchi's Kitchen. She has a stovepipe version and a Crock-Pot version. So after reading both, I went with stovetop with a few tweaks.
First, I used frozen spinach. This was supposed to be a quick weeknight meal, and washing and blanching the spinach seemed like too much. Second, I bought a can of diced tomatoes. I figured it would be about equal to two chopped fresh tomatoes. Third, obviously I added chicken instead of the paneer since that's what I was going for. Lastly, I added twice as much spice as called for. Crazy, I know! But we don't shy away from spice in my house and adding the chicken was going to bland out the recipe.
I put the onions and chopped garlic in the hot pan. When they were starting to get translucent, I added the chicken and all of the spices. Stir to combine. After several minutes of cooking, I added the tomatoes.
This is when I started to follow to recipe. I covered the pan, put it on low, and left it to cook as per the recipe directions. Then I added the spinach and stirred to combine. Recovered the pan and cooked as directed.
It didn't end up looking like it was in my head, but it was still beautiful and tasty. Though my husband's comment was that "it didn't taste Indian enough." Whatever that means.
Obviously, fresh spinach would make a huge difference. But besides adding more garam masala, I don't know how to make it "more Indian."
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