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!
Okay, I kind of loved this. I made it exactly per the recipe and it was great. I ate it atop some crusty bread because that’s what I had – can’t wait to try it on flatbread or rice.
Once I can find some paneer, I think I’ll add some of that and see how that works.
Tried this last weekend and I could eat it everyday for a week! Unfortunately (or fortunately) my family also loved it and there were no leftovers. Even my 11 year old loved it! I’m always trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet for the health benefits but I tend to meet resistance from my husband and oldest daughter – not this time though! Thanks for the awesome recipe Beth!
Think fat free or low fat evaporated milk might work well?
Low fat evaporated milk might, but it will definitely be less creamy.
Made again. Not even a full week later. Love this recipe!
My son passed this recipe to me and I’m very impressed. It was delicious. Like the other reviewer I had run out of curry powder and used garam masala instead. Result!!
This was wonderful. I only added about 2/3rds of the evaporated milk, and I let it cool just a bit before serving over brown rice. It sold my fiancรฉe who is always on the fence with Indian cuisine. And now I have super tasty leftovers (and I usually hate leftovers).
Omg delicious. Omg. Been wanting to make this for months but just never had chickpeas on hand. Finally! Your recipes neverrrrrr disappoint!
I am a Chana Saag fanatic and when I saw this super simple and cheap recipe I had to try it.
Oh.
My.
God.
This is the BEST Chana Saag recipe ever.
LOVE IT, love it, love it and will be making it all the time.
Thank you for such a kick ass recipe!
I gotta say, I was skeptical when I initially tried the finished product. On the stove, it tasted way too creamy and fairly bland. I added more curry powder and a few dashes of cayenne and still wasn’t impressed. Luckily, I was steaming my rice so I had to let it sit for another 20 minutes.
When the rice was done, I gave myself a tiny portion–and then immediately went back for a heaping bowl-ful. It was spicy, flavorful, and filling. Like one of the other commenters said, the spices build on one another as you eat and it tastes very authentic.
I think one of the keys to a flavorful curry is to let it sit and really blend the flavors, and I’m glad I (accidentally) did this before casting my verdict. This is a perfect weeknight curry that doesn’t require a lot of cutting and prepwork, and I will definitely make it again. Possibly with coconut milk.
Beth, I love your blog. It is wonderful. I’ve made many of your recipes in my versions and I just love them!!!
Thank you for posting your creations, you inspire me when I’m without a clue to what to cook, I just take a look at your website and that’s it!
Today I’ve made this Chana Saag with homemade chickpeas and fresh spinach accompanied by brown rice. Mmmm it was simply delicious!
Just tried this one tonight with a mix of fresh spinach and kale since that’s what I had on hand. It was so good!
Thank you for this recipe! I was out of curry powder, so I used garam masala instead, and kept everything else in the recipe the same. It was really good! My Indian neighbor brought over some fried paneer earlier in the day so I threw that in at the end too. Yum.
I made a slightly slapdash version of this the other night and it was delicious. I usually steer away from really creamy curries because I can’t quite manage the idea of eating 1/2 a cup of cream at a time, so I really like the idea of using evaporated milk instead – all of the creaminess for a fraction of the calories/fat. In the Netherlands evaporated milk apparently goes by “Coffee Milk,” which I was a bit skeptical about, but it worked really well. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been on a quest for a good saag recipe for years and I’ve finally found it! Thanks so much for sharing.
I just made this recipe-very delicious but I think (or at least for m taste) there is a bit too much spinach. It takes away some of the flavor, so I think next time I’ll add like half a pound instead of the whole pound of spinach. With that said-I love how you make these recipes so simple and easy to follow yet delicious (and still healthy).