Vegan Saag Aloo is a delicious combination of Indian spices cooked with creamy potatoes and fresh spinach. This tasty vegan Indian meal is perfect for budget-friendly mid-week dinners served with rice and naan breads, or as a side dish along with a larger Indian inspired feast.
1teaspoondried ginger powderor 1 inch piece of ginger root grated or fine diced, or 2 teaspoons ginger paste
2tablespoonmild curry powderif using a hot curry powder it can be reduced to 1 tablespoon if preferred
1canchopped tomatoes400g/15 oz
800gramspotatoes, cookedif using new baby potatoes these can be left whole, half or quarter larger potatoes, remove skin blemishes but retain potato skin if possible
250gramsspinachleft whole if baby spinach, rough chop any larger leaves, or shred if preferred
250millilitresvegetable stockbroth
At end of cooking
2teaspoongaram masala
1tablespoonfresh lemon juiceor just a few squeezes from the fresh lemon
Garnish
6gramscoriander[cilantro] rough chopped, use more if liked
Instructions
Melt the coconut oil or heat up the ½ cup [125ml] veggie stock in the non-stick pan.
Add the onion slices, cumin seeds, garlic and ginger.
Over a medium heat cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the pre-cooked potatoes and curry powder. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes and 1 cup [250ml] of vegetable stock/broth. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Stir through the garam masala and lemon juice.
Over a low-medium heat begin to add the spinach a few cups at a time. Stir the spinach through the curry to wilt, and once wilted fill the pan again with fresh spinach and stir. Continue until all the spinach has wilted and been stirred through the curry.
Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.
Serve sprinkled with fresh cilantro/coriander and red chilli flakes if liked. A wedge of lemon is also nice as is a scoop of mango chutney and a dollop of vegan mayonnaise.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
Leftover curry can be stored within a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Or frozen for 3-4 months.
To reheat, add to a non-stick pan and perhaps add a little vegetable stock to loosen up the sauce. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
Leftover Saag Aloo can be used to prepare curry pasties [puff pastry] or curry calzones [bread dough]. Check the recipe notes for guidance.
For gluten-free curry choose a gluten-free vegan stock/broth and check that the curry powder is free from gluten ingredients such as flour thickeners.
For a change use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. Or even butternut squash, acorn squash or pumpkin. Instead of parboiling the sweet potatoes, etc roast in the oven or an air-fryer and then add to the recipe but reduce the simmering time.
Any variety of potato is fine for this recipe, but be careful not to over cook while precooking the potato.
Potatoes can be precooked by steaming, boiling, baking, roasting, air-frying, microwaving, etc.
Save the potato cooking water as some of it can be used to make up the vegan stock/broth if using stock powder/cubes, the rest of the liquid can be stored for a few days and used for other recipes.
To save time and fuel if cooking potatoes for a recipe a few days before this one, cook extra potatoes and store in the refrigerator for this recipe.
Instead of spinach choose kale, collards, mustard greens, spring greens, etc, but add these greens in earlier as they take longer to cook compared to spinach.
To make this Saag Aloo even more budget-friendly look out for potatoes and spinach within the reduced section of your local supermarket or store.