Topic: Saag Bhaji

[Ian S.]

Hi guys

My Holy Trinity when it comes to ordering curries is Chicken Tikka Vindaloo, Mushroom Pilau and Saag Bhaji. The first time I tasted Saag Bhaji, it was almost enough to convert me to vegetarianism.

I've had some pretty 'meh' versions of it over the years. At its worst it's just tasted like spinach fried in oil with garlic and onions. That, I can recreate. But recently, I had a takeaway and the Saag Bhaji tasted just like it did when I first discovered it in the 80's. We talk about the 'toffee taste' but this was extreme. It was rich and spicy and just gorgeous.

Which is odd, because the main curry which came with the delivery was absolute pants!

I've scoured the site and although there's a recipe for Saag Aloo here (enough to feed a battalion) I wondered if anyone could give me a recipe, or even just hints and tips, for a single-serving plain Saag Bhaji?

Thanks in advance

Ian
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[abdulmohed2002]

Saag Bhaji (P.17 in Learn 2 Cook book and have omit the Methi)

Ingredients
Your choice of oil  5 tbsp
3 Cloves Garlic  Chopped
Salt half tbsp
2 Green chillies  sliced
Half of a medium sized onion  chopped
8 Spice 1 tbsp
Dry coriander leaves  quarter tbsp
Butter (brand of your choice) 1 tbsp
Tomato puree paste  1 tbsp
Gravy 1 and half tbsp and 1 pint
1 packet of Spinach  500 to 750grams
Water

Garnish
Fresh coriander

Method

Part 1: Firstly you must prepare the spinach; defrost the packet of spinach and drain the water as much as you can (squeezing the water with your hand would be enough). Place to a side...

... Part 2: Place a cooking pot onto the cooker with medium heat and pour oil and wait for it to heat (2 minutes). Add garlic, green chillies and onion. Then add salt (according to taste), dry coriander leaves and cook until golden colour (5 to 10 minutes). Then add the spinach and again stir well breaking any blocks so as to ensure the spinach cooks well. Add butter and stir well.

Once you have stirred thoroughly, push everything within the cooking pot away to the sides until the middle part of the pot is exposed (the heat MUST be slow during this time). Add into the middle of the cooking pot; 1 and half tbsp of gravy; tomato puree paste; 8 Spice and 1 ladle spoon of water. Cook the massala in the middle, stirring for 5 minutes and stir the massala with the spinach that had been pushed away from the centre of the cooking pot (5 minutes with medium heat).

Add 1 pint of gravy sauce, quarter pint of water, stir well and garnish with coriander and finally leave on a slow heat for 10 minutes.

try this, hope you enjoy it 

[Ian S.]

Thanks, Abdul. 

I need to get to my spice man to top up a few bits and pieces to make your gravy and 8 spice blend. I'll try this as soon as I can.

Cheers,
Ian
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[curryhell]

Decided not to hijak CT's thread any longer

Yes, I guess using frozen spinach doesn't help, as it's quite soggy anyway once defrosted. I have used fresh spinach before but It's a bit of a question of economics, for me. :

I was surprised that fresh spinach was used.  Frozen is convenient and cheaper.  I've got four portions of fresh now so i'll give it go and see if the results are any better.

The curry gravy really helped with the taste. You only use a little with Julian's recipe. The first splash was reduced right down to just an oily paste before putting the spinach in. It's at this point that I'm thinking of introducing some mix powder. As I've left out the potatoes from his sag aloo to make a sag bhaji, perhaps the second splash should be left out too. The lemon juice helps the taste but once again you're adding more moisture at the end. Next time I'll try changing the order of the ingredients so that the lemon juice de-glazes the pan and the spinach goes in last.

I'll try the addition of a little curry gravy but i think i'll start by frying a stick of cassia bark in the oil with the onions and garlic and then adding the mix powder before the gravy.  I will also add half tsp of tomato paste prior to the spice.

Thanks for the info on your local's sag bhaji, CH, and I look forward to you posting the results of your experiment. It would be great if you could get into the kitchen to see the chef make it. I'm near enough to Lakeside to think that geographical differences in our tastes won't be an issue.  The quality of the restaurants might be another matter - a lot of them have gone down the pan in my neck of the woods recently!

Are you sure it's the restauarants and not that your expectations have risen and your own results are now better? ;D
Not sure whether this dish is subject to regional variations or not although bombay aloo definitely is as are many main dishes.  But if it is we both should be looking for roughly the same thing as we're relatively close.  I'm actually in Grays.  I'll let you persevere with the lemon. I'll leave it out until you confirm it's a definite must .  I'm on hols for 2 weeks now so i will try and get into my local kitchen to help in our search :

[Ian S.]

Decided not to hijak CT's thread any longer

Haha - actually I started that thread. I was going to post on the end of Chewy's video thread but I wanted to talk about the sag bhaji too, so I started a new one. But this is a better place to do it. 

I'll try the addition of a little curry gravy but i think i'll start by frying a stick of cassia bark in the oil with the onions and garlic and then adding the mix powder before the gravy.  I will also add half tsp of tomato paste prior to the spice.

Sounds good to me. Looking forward to the recipe.

Have a good holiday, and good luck with your kitchen infiltration. Thanks again for sharing your ideas.

Cheers,

Ian
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[curryhell]

We did however go slightly off topic and the content would have been lost for anybody in search of the saag bhaji solution   Hopefully i'll be able to provide some positive feedback on the outstanding results  :;D - or not maybe.  We'll see.

[chewytikka]

Hi Ian, thought I'd add this pm for others.
Going back in time, not all things were good, but it all depends what you like and what tastes good to you.
Saag always used to be tinned, then it moved on to frozen and now good restaurants I know use fresh.

One of my good friends Kohinoor is a grafting Bengali Chef and creates amazing food at his Restaurant.
I've found a random clip of him making a Fresh Saag Bhaji to combine with Pilau.

I've posted it on one of my websites for Ian S, a while back after a pm....
http://www.southtyneside.com/sizzler/saag.html

He has great technique and like all Masters, makes it look so easy.

Like most of the of dishes he cooks, everything is at hand on his worktop.

He starts with hot oil, a couple of cloves of garlic sliced and a slack handful of sliced onion (stir fry)
add the very tip of the chefspoon or a pinch of G&G, Mixed Powder, Salt, Tom Puree and chilli Powder, (stir fry)
add the chopped Saag and let it wilt on heat then (stir fry) let it cook and continue to (stir fry)
add chopped Tomato and chilli (stir fry) let it cook and continue to (stir fry) for a couple of minutes. Done

I do this in a non-stick pan/wok,which centers the ingredients.
I also throw in a wedge of lemon and finish it off with a pinch of Chunky Chat Masala.
I hate tinned, if I do use frozen I use a whole sliced red onion and sliced mushrooms to bulk it out a bit.

Anyhoo, hope this helps and you give it a go. far better than your average TA.
Here's a pic of how they combine the bhaji and pilau, yum yum

cheers Chewy

[Ian S.]

I made this (to the best of my ability :) and it was lovely. I didn't want to post about it until Chewy shared the recipe on here himself.  The video was really helpful too. Thanks again, Chewy. 

The fresh chillies were a new idea in a Saag Bhaji to me, and made for a hotter version than I'm used to. But I'll definitely be making it again, to spec.

I love the look of it sandwiched inside the pilau.

[curryhell]

@CT
Only a chef could present it that way.  Very impressive.  Thanks for sharing all the info CT.  I'll report back on my exploits in the kitchen today a little later.  Loads of tikka to cook and as well as saag bhaji to work on.  I too remember the good old days of the tinned spinach.  Not great to look at and a disgusting texture, but when done well (a few chopped green chillis  ;D added) it was very edible.

@ IS
Can't see me doing much different from what CT has outlined.  Providing i can get it dry enough i'll be happy ;D Of course i'll be looking for that oily residue in the container as well