Vegan Saag Paneer
Saag is an Indian word for leafy green vegetables, but also commonly used for spinach or the spiced spinach dish made with it. I’m treading lightly on the word paneer, not meaning to forcefully substitute, but to give an idea that you can use this chickpea tofu similar to how you’d use the paneer in the more traditional recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 onion
- 8 garlic cloves
- 15 g ginger
- 1 green chilli
- 1 kg fresh spinach
- 300 g chickpea tofu or tofu of your choice
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 50 g wild garlic
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- Juice of 1 lemon (2 tbsp)
Instructions
- In a small frying pan, toast the cumin & coriander seeds, then grind into a fine powder.
- Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli to the bowl of a small food processor and chop finely. Then tip them into a deep casserole pan along with 1 tsp salt and a generous glug of oil and soften for 5 minutes on medium-low heat.
- Stir in the ground spices, then add all of the spinach. It’s easiest to do this in batches and use the lid to let it steam, which will wilt the spinach faster. Once all the spinach is added, let it cook for around 10 minutes without the lid to reduce the water.
- In the meantime, cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes and fry on medium-high heat in some oil together with the turmeric and 1/4 tsp salt. Once golden all around, set it aside.
- When most of the water has cooked away, add the wild garlic, garam masala and lemon juice. Cook for just another minute, then use a hand blender to work it into a semi-smooth sauce.
- Serve the saag into plates and top it off with the tofu.