Victorian Green Saag with Prawns

Victorian Green Saag with Prawns is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a for a classic curry of prawns (shrimp) in a lightly-spiced green amaranth base. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Victorian Green Saag with Prawns.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

50 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : CurrySpice RecipesFusion RecipesBritish Recipes

This is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe redacted from the volume: THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK: A Practical Handbook to The Kitchen in India (author unknown), published by: WYMAN & CO., HARE STREET CALCUTTA circa 1869.

Original Recipe

85.—Green Saug with Prawns

Proceed in every particular as with the last.

General:
Half an anna's worth of any saug will suffice for a party of four, for curries made of greens, such as
spinach, &c. The following condiments, &c, are used:—One chittack and a half of mustard oil, four
tspfuls of ground onions, one tspful of ground chilies, half a tspful of ground
turmeric, a quarter of a tspful of ground garlic, one tspful and a half of ground salt, and
one cupful of water.

82.—Red Saug and Omra

The omra should be peeled, and half fried if large. Great care must be taken to thoroughly clean and
wash the greens. Put them into a colander and allow all the water to drain away. Then warm the oil,
and fry the ground condiments; then the saug and omra, and when crisp add the water and cook
over a slow fire until the greens and omra are tender.

The prawns should be parboiled, and then follow all the instructions in recipe No. 82.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

300g amaranth greens (or spinach), washed
100g king prawns, peeled
4 tbsp mustard oil
1 1/2 tbsp onion paste
1 tsp chilli paste
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp sea salt
250ml water

Method:

Finely shred the greens then set aside.

Place a cooking pan over high heat. When hot add the oil, followed by the spices and pastes. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 2 minutes.

At this point add the shredded greens and cook until wilted. Add the water, bring to a simmer then add the prawns. Cook for about 5 minutes until the prawns are pink and just cooked through.

Turn into a serving dish and bring to the table.

Find more Victorian Recipes Here and more Curry Recipes Here. For the original version of The Indian Cookery book see my The Indian Cookery Book main page.