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
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
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 like everything that is in your recipe, will try it ,thanks for sharing.
Super easy and delicious! I added 1/2 an onion more, more ginger and garlic and seasoned with more curry power and a dash more cumin to taste. Instead of rice I made quinoa. Iโll be adding this to a regular dinner rotation. Thank you so much!
This was restaurant-quality! Itโs an ideal recipe: easy, inexpensive, vegetarian, one-pot, and delicious. I tried it with fresh spinach, but Iโm not convinced that doing this added nutrition or deliciousness, and it did add to the preparation time, since I couldnโt add it all at once.
Iโm going to try the recipe next time with a bag of frozen chopped spinach. I did add a few grinds of black pepper and did use my immersion blender.
Did not taste like anything…
This recipe is BOMB!! A delicious recreation of one of my go-to’s at middle eastern restaurants. I added cubes of paneer cheese towards the end–just because I was feeling extra. For the curry powder I used Garam Masala. I added some turmeric and an extra pinch of Cumin. And finished with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Highly recommend!!!
Ridiculously delicious! Followed your recipe to the tee!
Iโm a happy girl! Thank you! Yum!
OMG! Freaking delicious!
Thank you! Yummiocios!
I was super excited to make this but it had no flavor I even added goat cheese and more curry powder. Flavorless. Very disappointed.
Hi, I’m dying to make this, but I have an odd question. Does it freeze well? (minus the rice, of course)
Yes, that would be fine!
Could I use low fat coconut milk?
We really like using full-fat, but if you want to use low-fat just keep in mind that it will be a bit less rich and more liquidy!
Delicious!
I make it every now and then. Once everything was added, I put the frying pan in the oven for 1/2 h, at 180 degree Celsius.
I added one tsp. of ginger marmalade in the end and some coriander leaves.
Very easy to make!
I donโt normally bother to comment on Pinterest. But I had to on this one for future views. Sorry to rant and moan but here goesโฆ.i followed this recipe to the letter and it tasted of nothing, zilch! No taste of spice, or anything. I donโt usually adapt recipes, but I had to for this one.
I added-more curry powder, garam masala, mild chilli, cumin, garlic salt, paprika, tamarind, you name it I chucked it in to try and get some flavour and more spice.
๐ฌ
Hi
Can this be frozen
For sure!
This is Marvelous,delicious,easy,and is going on the weekly rotation,thank you..I use dried chick peas and cook a couple of Lbs a week to prep for quick use.Soaking and rinsing them gives less bloat and gas..but in a pinch at times I use canned chick peas..
Delicious! How big is one serving? 1 c or 2?
I would say about 3/4 cup of rice and 3/4 cup of curry!