LIZ KOLBECK, WRITER AND COOK
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North Indian Saag - a present from my neighbour

23/12/2020

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Picture
Yummy, mildly-spiced spinach curry sauce - eat as it is or add chicken or lamb
Asha’s North Indian Saag – vegan sauce or main, or use with meat
 
Asha and her husband are our next-door neighbours. She is a marvellous cook and often shares food with us. During lockdown I did a lot of their shopping and Asha reciprocated by passing delicacies over the garden wall on a regular basis. We call each other up and say “come to the wall” – I pass over bags of shopping and she passes over trays wrapped in kitchen foil. My family always love having something from Asha on our table – the flavours are not strong (they don’t like highly spicy things) but elegant and flexible. This is a perfect example of her food – it’s a spinach curry, which can be eaten just as it is, with rice or naan for a vegan meal, or used as a sauce for meat which is separately cooked. It’s not spicy hot, although there is a warmth to it.
 
It’s a very versatile dish - the original recipe calls for spinach – I used chard leaves from my allotment. I used a leek instead of the kale, and you can include a turnip or not depending on what’s in the shops.
 
Serves 4. Timings 20 minutes preparation (if you have to wash the spinach. If you are using a bag from the supermarket it will take less time!) 40 minutes cooking.
 
  • 500g fresh/frozen spinach
  • 250-200g kale or 1 large leek, washed
  • 1 medium size turnip (optional), peeled and cubed
  • 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • A bunch of spring onions chopped roughly 
  • ½ green chilli, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes – peeled and chopped
  • ½ tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon powdered turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon mild chilli powder or cayenne pepper - Kashmiri masala if you have a specialist spice supplier nearby
  • 2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
  • A squeeze of lemon juice
 
Place all the ingredients except the cumin seeds/lemon juice in a pan with about 1 cup of water – you need about 2cm liquid in the bottom of the pan so it depends on what vegetables you have used. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft. You can also do this in a pressure cooker – bring up to pressure and cook for 2 minutes at high.
 
Cool and liquidise briefly – not too liquid, you still want some texture not a soupy smooth puree. Taste and add salt/pepper as required. You might want a squeeze of lemon juice or a teaspoon of sugar depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes you used – use your judgement.
 
Put about ½ tablespoon vegetable oil in a pan and cook the cumin seeds briefly until browned. Add the spinach mixture and simmer for 15 minutes. It is quite a thick mixture and will spit and bloop in the pan so you’ll need a lid on and stir it sometimes.  You just want it to cook down a bit and let the flavours blend.
 
Eat as it is – easy lunch with naan bread or dipping tortillas or add some grilled meat or halloumi or cubed cooked potatoes for additional protein and texture. It also freezes well as a sauce.
 
Nice to have a lighter vegetarian dish as an alternative to all that Christmas protein!
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    Some Changes - April 2022

    Thanks to my friends and followers for your patience, and for your encouragement to start blogging again.

    I've been taking time away from social media and writing my books, "The Family Way" and "The Way Home" following the lives of two young Scotswomen from the outbreak of the First World War.

    I'm going to change the emphasis of my blog and follow what Jean and Gladys would have cooked and eaten, working as servants in a big house near Edinburgh in 1913.  

    Researching for the books, I've learned a lot about the lives of women at that time, and I'd like to share some of that with you.

    I won't give you story spoilers as I'm hoping to get the books published sometime soon.

    As always, please get in touch with any of your own family recipes that your grandmother may have cooked in the early 1900s. I'll adapt them to modern methods and share them on my blog.

    ​Happy Cooking!


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