Chicken Saag
Chicken Saag is a modern British recipe (from British Indian Restaurants) for a classic mild curry of chicken in in a tomato and pureed baby spinach gravy. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Chicken Saag.
prep time
15 minutes
cook time
30 minutes
Total Time:
45 minutes
Serves:
2
Rating: 
Tags : CurryBIR CurriesSpice RecipesChicken RecipesBritish Recipes
This is a classic mild British Indian Restaurant (BIR) recipe for a curry of chicken in a spinach and tomato gravy that’s typically served with rice, naan bread or
chapatis and rotis. This is often one of the most popular dishes on many Indian Restaurant menus.
Ingredients:
500g chicken thighs, boned and cubed
4 tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tbsp ghee
1 Indian bay leaf (tez pata)
2 cardamom pods
1 large piece of cassia bark
2 medium onions, halved and sliced (thick slices)
1 tsp (heaped) grated ginger
1 tbsp grated garlic
1 tsp salt
2 tsp curry powder (Madras is good)
2 tsp mix powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp chilli powder
3 tomatoes (pureed to a smooth paste)
200g baby spinach, pureed to a paste with a little water (about 250ml [1 cup])
1 tomato, sliced into 4 wedges
2 pinches kasoori methi (dried fenugreek) leaves
3 pinches garam masala
1 tbsp ghee
Method:
Place a wok or curry pan over high heat. Add the oil and ghee, When hot add the bayleaf, cardamom pods and cassia bark, followed by the onions, the grated ginger and the grated garlic. Stir to combine and coat in the oil then add a tsp of salt. Stir to combine then cook for about 4 minutes, until the onion is soft.
Pour in 125m (1/2 cup) of boiling water and use to deglaze the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer the ingredients for 6 minutes. At the end of this time, use a potato masher to mash the onion mixture into a paste. Add in the spices (apart from the dried fenugreek and garam masala). Stir into the mashed onions until you have a thick paste. Now add the puréed tomatoes and stir to combine.
Reduce the heat to medium low, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the chicken, stirring to coat in the gravy. Don’t worry if the curry looks a little dry at this stage as the chicken will release a lot of liquid.
Cover and cook over high heat for 5 minutes, stirring half way through and at the end of the cooking time. Now add the spinach purée, stirring well to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes then reduce the heat to low and simer for a further 10 minutes.
Crumble over the dried fenugreek leaves and the garam masala. Add a generous handful of chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves and stir to combine. Add the tomato wedges, press them down into the gravy. Cook for a few minutes to soften the tomato then pour over a tbsp of melted ghee.
Serve on a bed of steamed rice.