Sometimes, when I’m suffering from a creativity block, all I need to do is take a stroll through the freezer aisle. Yesterday, as I was perusing the freezer goods, I saw a frozen dinner called Chana Saag. I didn’t look too closely, I just saw chickpeas and spinach and knew that’s exactly what I wanted to eat. So I adapted my Indian Style Creamed Spinach recipe by adding a can of chickpeas to make it a more filling meal, and this Chana Saag was born. And whoa, is it good!!
Is Chana Saag Spicy?
This recipe can be made either hot or mild depending on what type of curry powder you use, but either way the fragrant spices will be heady and flavorful. The coconut milk adds just the right amount of natural sweetness and creamy flavor to balance the warm spices.
How to Serve Chana Saag
I suggest serving this over rice or with some homemade naan to sop up the sauce. I served mine with some rice and while I usually go for jasmine rice, the Chana Saag was so flavorful that plain white rice did the job nicely.
Can I Substitute the Coconut Milk?
Absolutely. The original version of this recipe used a 12oz. can of evaporated milk in place of the coconut milk. I’ve since grown to love coconut milk with curry powder, so I now prefer that, and it makes this recipe appropriate for both vegans and vegetarians, so I went with coconut milk. But it tastes great both ways!
WHAT KIND OF CURRY POWDER DO YOU USE?
I prefer to buy mild curry powder, that way I can make both mild and hot curries with it by adding my own cayenne pepper for heat, when I want. For this recipe, I used Sharwood’s mild curry powder. Or you can try making your own curry powder using this recipe for Easy Homemade Curry Powder from Spiceitupp.com.
Chana Saag Curry
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1.5 cups long grain white rice ($0.95)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.30)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 Tbsp curry powder hot or mild ($0.30)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 tomato ($0.31)
- 1 lb. frozen chopped spinach ($1.60)
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas ($0.49)
- 1/2 cup water ($0.00)
- 1 13oz. can coconut milk ($2.79)
Instructions
- Begin the rice first. Add the rice and 3 cups water to a sauce pot. Cover with a lid, place the pot over high heat, and bring it up to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off, and let the rice rest for 10 minutes, undisturbed, with the lid in place. Fluff with a fork just before serving.
- While the rice is cooking, begin the curry. Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to a large skillet with the olive oil and sauté over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft. While these are cooking, dice the tomato.
- Add the curry powder and cumin to the skillet and continue to stir and cook for one minute more. Add the diced tomato and salt. Continue to cook for about five minutes more, or until the tomato has broken down.
- Drain the chickpeas in a colander and give them a quick rinse. Add the rinsed chickpeas, frozen spinach, and a half cup of water to the skillet. Stir everything together and then bring it up to a simmer over medium heat. Let the mixture simmer for five minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
- After five minutes, turn the heat down to medium-low and add the coconut milk. Depending on how thick you want the sauce, you can either just heat through or let it simmer until thickened. Leave your chana saag chunky ,or, if preferred, use an immersion blender to purée some of the mixture. Once it’s heated through, adjust the salt to your liking.
- Serve the creamy chickpeas and spinach over a bowl of warm rice.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Chana Saag Curry – Step By Step Photos
Begin the rice first. Add 1.5 cups rice and 3 cups water to a sauce pot. Cover with a lid, place the pot over high heat, and bring it up to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off, and let the rice rest for 10 minutes, undisturbed, with the lid in place. Fluff with a fork just before serving.
First dice one yellow onion, mince 2 cloves of garlic, and grate about one Tbsp ginger. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger to a large skillet with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger over medium heat for a few minutes, or until the onions are soft.
Add 1 Tbsp curry powder and 1 tsp cumin to the skillet and sauté for a minute more. The spices will stick to the bottom of the skillet, but it’s okay because the juice from the tomatoes in the next step will dissolve it off. Just make sure that the heat is not up so high that they burn.
While the onions are sautéing, dice one tomato. Add the tomato to the skillet with 3/4 tsp salt and sauté for about five minutes more, or until the tomatoes break down a bit.
After five minutes it looks something like this. It will smell pretty amazing at this point!
Add 1 lb. frozen spinach (no need to thaw), one 15oz. can chickpeas (drained), and ½ cup water. Stir everything together and then bring it up to a simmer over medium heat. Let the mixture simmer for five minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
After simmering for five minutes, turn the heat down to medium-low and add a 13oz. can of coconut milk. Depending on how thick you want the sauce, you can either just heat through or let it simmer until thickened. Leave your chana saag chunky, or, if preferred, use an immersion blender to purée some of the mixture. Once it’s heated through, adjust the salt to your liking.
Whatever texture you choose, it’s freaking delicious.
Serve over rice or with a piece of naan for dipping!
I tried this tonight and I liked it, but it was a little bland for my taste. I followed the recipe exactly too! Any tips on making it a bit spicier? I added more curry powder, but that didn’t really help.
Yep, just add a little cayenne pepper and that will give it a fantastic kick! :)
I ground up a whole dried chili. It gives it the perfect heat.
Made this last night and turned out pretty well! I thought it was a little too milky tasting so next time I won’t add an entire can of evaporated milk. It was still very tasty and easy, though, and I’ll definitely come back to it.
I just made this for dinner tonight, and all I have to say is WOW! It tastes super authentic, and we very easy to make. Thank you for sharing!
Wow – this sounds amazing! Definitely going to give it a try. Any thoughts about using fresh spinach rather than frozen? We tend to keep fresh baby spinach around the house so I’d probably try to use that if I can.
Swapping fresh for frozen spinach should be very easy. Just add the fresh spinach at the same point that I added the frozen spinach, and cook it down until wilted. You might want to add just a few handfuls at a time and let it wilt before adding more, though, so that your skillet doesn’t overflow. :)
Wow! I had a tupperware of frozen leftovers of this that I wanted to use. But I thought it needed something extra. So i added shrimp, more fresh ginger, kale, and served it over a bed of brown rice. Oh my, it seriously transformed into a completely different and equally satisfying meal. I LOVE taking leftovers and making it into something new :)
Loved this recipe too! My husband was very suspicious, especially at the tomato-onion part, which he said looked “already eaten,” ha. But by the end, he was a fan. I love that the dish is so concentrated with greens!
Hi Beth! This recipe looks yummy! A question about the curry powder–what brand do you use? Also, what is in it? Thanks!
It’s a brand called Sharwood’s. I really don’t know anything about that brand in particular, I just picked it up from the ethnic aisle at my local grocery store :) It is pretty good, though! Curry powder can be made a million different ways, but it’s usually a blend of spices like corriander, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, pepper, and/or several other things. It’s a very versatile spice blend – give it a try!
Hi Beth, I am a big fan of your site! Was wondering if I could leave out the evaporated milk?
The evaporated milk is really key in this dish. If you want to avoid dairy or just don’t want to use evaporated milk, you can use coconut milk instead. Just make sure not to let the heat get too high on the coconut milk or else it will curdle.
Would this freeze well?
Although I haven’t tried it, I’m willing to bet that it would freeze well. :)
this looks delicious…I have all the ingredients in my pantry…going to make it this weekend. I’m going to have it with jasmine rice and maybe some naan bread.
Out of the park flavor! Made enough for 5-6 single girl meals and was a lot of fun to make. I really like the building of flavors that happens with Indian spices and this is a great way to experience that
This is INCREDIBLE. Love your blog!
This is heating up on my stove right now :) Doubled the curry powder and sautรฉed the onion, garlic, ginger (added a bit of shallot) in peanut oil. Yum!
At this all week last week as leftovers! soooo yummy!
Looks wonderful!