READY IN 55 mins

Kale and Spinach Saag

Read Reviews (13)

"I've been experimenting with saag recipes for a while now, and have finally concocted what I believe to be the best version so far. This recipe is for plain saag. Add lamb, chicken, paneer, or other deliciousness. Serve warm with rice or naan. " — dasunrisin

Directions

Place the ginger and garlic in a blender with 1/4 cup of water, and blend to a smooth paste.
Heat a large skillet with a lid over medium-low heat, and scoop the ginger-garlic paste into the skillet. Sprinkle with garam masala, and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer the paste for about 15 minutes, checking to see that it hasn't cooked dry. Add more water if the mixture gets dried out. Stir in the spinach and kale, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are bright green and limp, about 10 minutes.
Place the milk and cottage cheese into the blender, and blend until smooth. Add a pinch of salt and nutmeg to the blender, and pulse again just to mix.
Heat the ghee in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onions until they are translucent, about 5 minutes.
Stir the cottage cheese mixture and the cooked onions into the skillet with the greens until well combined, let cool slightly, and place about half the saag into the blender. Pulse until smooth, return the blended mixture to the skillet, and stir well.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 20 mins
COOK 30 mins
READY IN 55 mins

Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review

Oct 07, 2011

This is a response to the review by MGPaneer on Jan25, 2011(I have not tried this recipe). Saag is NOT name of Mustard Greens in either Hindi or Punjabi. That honor belongs to Sarson. Saag is the name of a dish that is cooked in such a fashion with leafy greens. So if the primary leafy green is Mustard Greens(which is usually the case) then it is called Sarson da Saag (da=of, so this translated to Saag of Mustard Greens). This dish could be called Kale da Saag. As for the addition of milk/cream, this is a common practice in many Indian restaurants in both India and the US to give the Saag added richness. Home cooks tend to use a big chunk of butter/ghee instead of the milk to give it the richness. So the person is correct in calling this Saag although calling it Kale Saag may be more appropriate since just Saag is usually always with Sarson(Mustard Green). Also, Paneer is a type of Cottage Cheese so please go over your info before posting. Just because you Indian does not make you correct(I am Indian btw) Hope this helps.

—zubin

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Most Helpful Critical Review

Jan 25, 2011

I wanted to write just to provide some linguistic clarity. "Saag" is both the name for the dish and the Punjabi/Hindi word for mustard greens, which are the main component of the dish. If there are no mustard greens, it is not "saag". This could be a "palak" dish (palak means spinach). Also, no South Asian person (myself included) would ever add milk and/or cottage cheese to such a dish. Cubes of paneer can be added. But as this recipe stands, it is entirely inaccurate to call it a saag dish or even any version of a saag dish. This seems be more of an "Indianized" creamed spinach dish.

—MGPaneer

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17 Ratings

May 11, 2012

I was the only one in my family who liked this. I accidentally over blended half of the saag for the last step, so it came out looking like babyfood- but such a beautiful color! The only thing I changed was to use olive oil instead of ghee- didn't have any and was too lazy to make some from scratch. I don't know if I'd make this again. It wasn't bad. It helped me use up all the kale I had which was why I thought to make it in the first place, but it's really too high in carbs for my husband and I to eat and it didn't particularly wow either of us.

—Mrs. Jason

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Apr 12, 2010

Fabulous and sooooo healthy. Also a very flexible recipe. I used small frozen packages of spinach and mustard greens, substituted almond milk for dairy milk (probably could have substituted tofu for the cottage chees), substituted 1 tablespoon tikka masala for the 1/2 teaspoon garam masala, used one giant sweet onion instead of two regular onions, and substituted olive oil for ghee. I don't really like cooked greens, but THIS was GOBBLED.

—Maryelizabethanne

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Dec 31, 2011

The contrary opinions on whether this can be called saag and the appropriateness of the ingredients arise from different sub-cultures within the Indian sub-continent. Among Punjabis( people whose ancestors and possibly they themselves are from the Punjab region), the term "saag" means a simple curry made from bitter mustard greens and milder greens such as spinach. No milk,cream etc is EVER added- that would be blasphemous. For non-Punjabis however, "saag" means any dish made of leafy green vegetables such as this one. It is common to add cream, milk, paneer etc to green leafy vegetables. So everyone who posted their ire is correct according to their perspective! For more trivia, linguistically "saag" is related to "shaak" which means vegetable. That is why a vegetarian is called "shakahari"- one that eats vegetables.

—nk

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Nov 10, 2010

REVISIONS: I'm sure the original is amazing too, but a few substitutions made this the best Spinach Saag ever! No cottage cheese=used plain yogurt instead Added fried cubes of Indian Cottage Cheese/like tofu constancy : cut into 1 inch cubs fry in a pan of 1TBS olive oil til brown then put in Saag. Try it. Love it!

—whereiroamishome

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Oct 23, 2009

This recipe tastes better with tomato puree in place of milk and cheese.I add cottege cheeze cubes in tomato gravy and palak paste. Chhaya[cstopre]

—cstopre

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Nov 16, 2010

Excellent! Tastes just like my fav Indian restaurants! I used cottage cheese, a little yogurt I had left and almond milk instead of reg milk. Thanks so much-I've tried other saag recipes-this will be the one I always use!

—UudyJa

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Nutrition

Calories
191 kcal
10%

Carbohydrates
21.2 g
7%

Cholesterol
19 mg
6%

Fat
6.9 g
11%

Fiber
4.2 g
17%

Protein
14.4 g
29%

Sodium
441 mg
18%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Information

Kale and Spinach Saag

Serving Size: 1/4 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 191
Calories from Fat: 62

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6.9g 11 %
Saturated Fat 3.9g 20 %
Cholesterol 19mg 6 %
Sodium 441mg 18 %
Potassium 960mg 27 %
Total Carbohydrates 21.2g 7 %
Dietary Fiber 4.2g 17 %
Protein 14.4g 29 %
** Sugars 5.8g
Vitamin A 357 %
Vitamin C 185 %
Calcium 37 %
Iron 35 %
Thiamin 20 %
Niacin 32 %
Vitamin B6 32 %
Magnesium 35 %
Folate 100 %

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.