Lamb and Spinach (Saag) Curry
Sag Gosht
Lamb saag is another popular curry dish served by almost all British Indian restaurants. Lamb tastes very nice, when cooked with a green leaf vegetable like spinach or fenugreek (methi).
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 500 gm. good cut of lamb, cut into cubes. Lean meat like leg or shoulder is better
- 250-300 gm. spinach leaves
- A bunch of methi or fenugreek leaves. 2 tbsp. dry, Kasoori methi can be used instead.
- 2 medium onions (about 300 gm.), peeled
- 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2 green chillies
- 3 tbsp. oil or ghee
- 1 tsp. turmeric powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. coriander powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 heaped tbsp. tomato purée or 1 1/2 cup of chopped/tinned tomatoes
- 1 level tsp. Garam Masala
- Water, as required
Instructions
- Wash and drain meat.
- Wash the spinach and fenugreek leaves well, remove any thick stalks. Chop and keep aside.
- Finely chop or coarsely grind onions ginger and garlic in a food processor.
- Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions*, ginger, garlic, and fry until onions are nicely browned.
- Add lamb and stir fry for 4-5 minutes on high, until meat is browned and sealed.
- Add the spices and salt and stir fry for a minute.
- Add tomatoes and green chillies, fry again until nicely mixed.
- Add a cup of water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until meat is tender, stirring from time to time. At this stage, meat can be left in a slow cooker to cook over a few hours. This gives a very tender lamb at the end.
- Add the spinach and fenugreek leaves to the lamb halfway through the cooking and cook over a medium heat until meat is tender, stirring a few times. Saag should be clinging around the meat pieces.
- Adjust seasoning.
- Most of the liquid should be evaporated.
- Serve hot with chapatties, tandoori roti or naan.
- Cooking in a Slow Cooker or Crock pot; Place everything except spinach and methi leaves in a bowl, mix, leave to marinate for a couple of hours. Cook as per instructions in your slow cooker book for meat casserole. I cook on high for 3-4 hours and then leave it on slow for a couple of hours. Add spinach and methi leaves, stir them in and cook for another hour or so.
Notes
- * For a restaurant-like curry, fry sliced onions until quite brown. Then grind them. Then heat oil, fry ginger and garlic and add puréed onions. Now proceed from step 5.
- Saag or sag, is a generic term and means any green, leafy vegetables like spinach, fenugreek leaves, mustard leaves and so on.