Spring's Inspirations Recipe Series: Saag

This is going to be a bit of a journey before I share the recipe. Bear with me - it all has impact on the final recipe I settled on.

I have a complicated history with saag. I spent a good portion of my life sure I didn't like Indian food because of one negative experience shortly after college (it was VERY negative) and I avoided it after. The guy I was dating wasn't ever insistent on much, but he did bring up going out for Indian several times and wished I would give it a shot. I finally relented and we went to a highly recommended place just north of Baltimore: Kathmandu Kitchen. I told the waiter I was brand new and needed suggestions. What I ate was one of the most divine flavored dishes I have ever had, and any time I get to Baltimore this restaurant is a required stop. 

Fast forward a few months from that delicious dinner and my Cook's Illustrated magazine featured a recipe for saag. Saag with lamb had become one of my go-to orders and I wanted to try it at home. After about 2 weeks of scouring local shops for exactly the spices and specified greens, I spent over 4 hours preparing this dish. And it was... bland. I can't even say it was bad, just an absolute mouthful of nothing. I was inconsolable. The guy and my sister both enthusiastically ate in an attempt to make me feel better, but I ordered pizza (I don't think I ate that either I was so disappointed). And that's where I thought my Indian cooking journey would end. I broke up with that guy a few years later, kept getting my take out, and kept watching Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Made...

The show was a spin off of Best Thing I Ever Ate, where the food network chef's would rave about a dish within a theme and where you could go get the best version they had ever had. It was a lot of fun and my sister and I joked it was absolute food p*rn. We loved the Best Thing I Ever Made just as much and used a lot of the recipes on the show for special occasion celebrations. At one point, Aarti Sequeira shared her mother's Tandoori Chicken recipe and I promised I would try to make it. I had discovered Penzey's spices and knew I could get a hold of the less common ingredients. We put it together and it was wonderful! I was given Aarti's cookbook for Christmas and in the veggie chapter was a recipe for saag...

It took me a few months to be brave enough to make it. When I finally plucked up the nerve, it was easy and amazing and tasted like redemption. I almost called up that guy to tell him to come to dinner because I had figured out how to make saag. 

For Spring's, I had 2 recipes for saag I was looking at: Aarti's (which I knew and was comfortable with) and Max Miller's from Tasting History. With my faithful kitchen twin, we decided to test the Tasting History recipe and see what we thought, one of the major points in its favor was it didn't use yogurt and I was focused on keeping the menu as dairy-free as possible. We followed the recipe and tasted it and it was simple, but missing something. So we tweaked it and here is our final recipe! You can find Aarti's recipe here: Saag Paneer

Saag

12 oz frozen chopped spinach
12 oz frozen chopped kale

1 fennel bulb, rough chopped - about 3/4 inch 
2 tbls vegetable oil
1 tbls finely grated ginger

1 red onion, finely chopped
1 tbls chopped garlic
1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2-3/4 cup water
Kosher salt to taste
Pomegranate red wine vinegar to taste

Add oil to large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sweat until translucent. Add a healthy sprinkle of salt, then add the ginger and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Add the greens and fennel. Sprinkle with garam masala and cook for 2-3 minutes to wake up the spices. Add water and cook 20 minutes until greens are desired doneness and water has steamed away. 

Transfer to serving dish and taste for salt. Splash vinegar over greens to brighten.