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 made this today! It was sooooo good. I followed the recipe to a T other than adding a bit more curry powder. I had it over rice with homemade Naan (added a little garlic and butter to that). Will DEFINITELY be making this again in the near future. Thank you!
This is awesome!!! I love it so much. And once again, all my kids loved it too! I love how many veggies they are eating thanks to your recipes
This was so good! My husband loved it, but his only complaint was that he thought it needed meat. What kind of meat would you recommend? I was thinking either ground beef or shredded chicken.
I think shredded chicken would go a little better.
Made this tonight and it was delicious!
Hiya,
Made this recipe today and really enjoyed it. Didn’t have enough Spinach and ended up using potatoes in it as well. It was lovely! Thank you for putting this up :)
Love it! This is one of mine and my husband’s favorite cold, rainy day comfort food meals. We just serve over some jasmine rice and devour. So good!
This is ridiculously good. One of my favorite indian-style recipes on BB. I’ve eaten it 3 days in a row now, and I wouldn’t mind a 4th :)
We budget eaters are always looking for ways to make rice and beans more interesting. This did the trick as well as anything! I added some paneer to stretch this for a couple more servings. Really satisfying.
I made this just last night and it was fantastic! I agree that the longer it sits the better it gets!
I love this recipe and make it all the time! I’ve noticed I like it best when it simmers a while, thickens up and the flavors really develop. In light of that, do you think it’d be possible to do this in a slow cooker? How would you go about that? Perhaps don’t add the evaporated milk until later? Same with the chickpeas?
Hmm, I think using a slow cooker would actually make it more complicated. You definitely want the direct heat of a skillet for the first few steps, so you’d have to then transfer it to the slow cooker, simmer, then add the milk at the end. But you can do all that right in the skillet, so the slow cooker seems like extra work. :P
I used dried ginger and canned tomatoes because I was out of fresh. I also used coconut milk (added after I took it off the heat) and out Sriracha on mine (not my daughter’s :) It was amazing! I’ve never had a dish I liked whole chickpeas in, so this was a pleasant surprise!
*Put Sriracha not out :)
Also meant to add my star rating!
Could this be made using canned coconut milk instead of evaporated milk?
I haven’t tried that, but I think I have seen recipes similar to this that use coconut. The only thing you have to be careful of is not letting the coconut milk boil because it can curdle.
I made this recipe using half coconut milk and regular half milk instead of the evaporated milk. It turned out great!
I am vegan and instead of the milk I used a tub of Tofutti cream cheese and half a can of coconut milk (that’s all I had laying around) and it was FANTASTIC. The vegan cream cheese broke down as it cooked really well.
I tried this recipe today, and it was wonderful! It was quick, easy, and very flavorful. Thanks for the great recipe!
Absolutely delectable. Leftovers were an absolute treat. I put about half a teaspoon of chili paste in my bowl today and it gave it a small, great kick.
This stuff is yummy. I don’t mind the evaporated milk taste but when I make this I usually end up with 2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons curry powder.
I add a little pineapple, green onions and raisins to this dish before serving. My mom serves chicken curry with those so I tried the Chana Saag that way. I think I’ll try it with peanuts next.