Saag and Onion Rice

My sister made this fantastic dish for dinner tonight, so I thought I would blog it for her! She made saag, which translates to spinach, and a simple rice stir-fry to accompany it. You will find this dish at every North Indian restaurant, and it will be super heavy, since they typically use a large amount of heavy cream. My sister made a lighter version of the dish that tastes just as good, and won't require you to buy new pants every time you eat it! The saag dish is typically made with paneer, which is a type of Indian cheese. We decided not to use paneer in our dish because we weren't in the mood, but paneer would definitely add to the flavor of the dish, and make it fancier or more appropriate to serve to company.

Saag (Spinach)
2 boxes frozen spinach, chopped
1 red or white onion, chopped
1/4 cup light cream
2 tsp vegetable oil (or corn oil)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tomato, chopped
2-3 green chilies, chopped finely
1/2 red chili, chopped finely
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp tumeric
salt to taste
1/4 cup coriander, chopped
1 tbsp fresh lime juice

Add oil to a large pan at medium heat. When the oil gets hot, add the cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to sizzle and brown, add the onions, tomatoes, and garlic. Once the onions gets translucent and the tomatoes soften a bit, add the spinach. At this point, try to burn off some of the liquid, so the dish gets a little dry. This should take a few minutes at medium heat. Remove half the mixture from the pan and place in the food processor. Pulse 3 times, and then return it to the pan. The purpose of doing this is to create a smooth texture for the dish. Next, add the garam masala, tumeric, ground coriander, and salt. Mix. Turn the heat to low and add the cream. Mix. Add lime juice. Turn off heat. Add coriander leaves as the final ingredient.

Note: This recipe can also be made with fresh spinach. We used frozen spinach because my sister wanted to try her friend's recipe, but fresh spinach will obviously work wonderfully as well! To do so, chopped the spinach roughly, blanch in hot water, and then proceed with the recipe as you would with frozen spinach.

Also, if you want to use paneer, you can either buy paneer at an Indian grocery store, or make it from scratch, which requires more effort. I've never made it, so I won't attempt to explain how it is done!

Rice with onion
2 cups cooked Basmati rice
1 white onion, chopped
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add cumin seeds when oil gets hot. Add the white onion and cook until they soften and brown slightly. Add the rice and stir on medium low heat for a few minutes.

So, the good thing about rice is that you can stir-fry it with almost anything and it will taste fantastic. The trick to making this dish is to avoid using the rice until it has cooled. If you try to make this dish with rice that has just been made, it will crumble in your frying pan. BUT, by waiting until the rice cools or by using leftover rice from the refrigerator, the dish cooks perfectly. If you use refrigerated rice to cook this dish, which I did, add a few tbsp of water to the pan to soften the rice while it is cooking! You could also add carrots, peas, etc.