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!
This recipe is bomb!! I used a little less condensed milk than the recipe called for because it is very sweet. Vegan version could work well with an agave-coconut milk mix!
I think you confused evaporated milk with sweetened condensed milk
This is one of those rare occasions in which I had all the ingredients (well, most with reasonable substitutions). I didn’t have spinach but I did have fresh baby kale (which I suppose doesn’t make this a true saag, but was delicious nevertheless) and I used leftover coconut milk that I had in the freezer. Delish! Can’t wait to make it again with spinach.
Made this tonight for the first time and it was SO GOOD. Thank you!
Can I use fresh spinach? How does that modify the recipe?
You can chop the fresh spinach and add it to the skillet at the same time that I added the frozen spinach, and simply sautรฉ until the spinach is wilted down, then move on to the next step.
Made this by subbing coconut milk for evaporated milk. SO GOOD- simple and fast. Definitely putting this in the permanent rotation
You should try the vegan version of this which uses full fat canned coconut milk. One can is enough. Trust me when I say that the flavor is magical. Also add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of cayenne for some kick. Kale also goes very well in this dish.
This is a great recipe base. Try with coconut milk instead of the evaporated milk and add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like it more spicy!
I am living in Spain with 3 girls and 2 meat loving boys. Is there a way to add chicken to this?
By the way, we take turns cooking dinners and 100% of mine have been Budget Byte recipes and always successes! Appreciate this site very much Beth! :)
You could dice up some chicken and brown it in the skillet just before adding the onions and other aromatics. :)
I made this tonight for the first time and was blown away. I only had a small can of chickpeas so I added a diced white potato and half an eggplant diced. Instead of evaporated milk, I added coconut cream, which I had on hand. This was really, really good. Thank you.
I like to prepare this recipe through step 3, freeze it, then warm it and add heavy cream in place of the evaporated milk. I’ve made this twice in the last few weeks for friends who just had babies. It was a hit!
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve made this. At this point I’m uncomfortable when I don’t have an extra serving or two ready to go in the freezer. This was my first attempt at cooking an Indian dish and it was pretty much life changing. Love it! After experimenting a bit, I typically go with 10-12 oz spinach and 15 oz chickpeas just because I enjoy the texture better with a little more sauce to go around. Thank you so much for this recipe and all that you do! You’re amazing!
Used ginger powder instead of fresh ginger. Still waiting for my next chance to make this. :q
So when my best friend first shared this recipe with me a few years ago, I was like no way Jose. It just didn’t sound like a good combo. But then I made it. Omg. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve made it now over the past couple years. I love it!! Currently simmering away on the stove. Serving it over some cauliflower rice tonight
I’m going to put it over cauli rice tonight too:)
Super tasty! Per some other comments, I subbed canned tomatoes & increased the curry powder. Also doubled the chickpeas, added some cubed paneer cheese and added another half pound of spinach. Made a ton (which is what I was going for!) and ate with the BB curried coconut lentils, naan and rice. An Indian feast in my kitchen!
great recipe!!
I used can of diced tomatoes (drained), subbed fresh spinach, subbed 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger, added 1 tsp garam masala & 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper, extra salt, and a little bit of lime juice.