Maria's Chicken Saag - an addendum to A Celebration.....

Lamb Saag - could've been greener had my shopping arrived with the remainder of the spinach!

In the last two blogs I've been telling you about the curry night we had to celebrate our close friends 25th Wedding Anniversary.

The last curry to tell you about is the Lamb Saag...a  mildly spiced, highly aromatic stew packed with succulent lamb and iron rich spinach, very saucy and perfect for those who prefer curries that are not "blow your head off, in fact Lauren absolutely loved it and polished off the leftovers for her Sunday dinner. If you want the full recipe for that then take a look at The Hairy Bikers Great Curries which is where I took the recipe from, or you can find the recipe here http://www.womanandhome.com/recipes/533722/traditional-lamb-saag.

Next time we were feeling in the curry mood, I decided to make my own variation and here is the recipe. It has all the same rich attributes as the lamb one but a little extra heat, however, as always recipes are there for you to leave out the bits you don't like, substitute them if appropriate and amend to your taste - a bit more seasoning, a little less heat. Unless I'm baking I always use recipes as guides rather than instructions.

Maria's Chicken Saag

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and fry 400-600 grams of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (depending on number of people eating 2-4) which have been roughly quartered, until they have been sealed all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and leave in a covered dish until later in the recipe.

Then fry 2 large, sliced onions gently in the oil and chicken juices until soft and going golden.

While they are frying put 5 cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar and crush them, removing the husks and grinding the seeds into a powder, add in 1/2 tablespoon of mustard seeds and a 1" cinnamon stick and pound these too - watch out for those mustard seeds they fly everywhere, it might help to add an extra few to compensate! You should end up with a quite fine powder, the cinnamon will not be so fine.

Chop 1 whole red chili, including the seeds (if you prefer less heat, leave out the seeds or use a milder chili) and finely slice 4 cloves of garlic. Add them to the pan with the onions and stir well. Next sprinkle over the pounded spices, along with 1/2 tablespoon of ground coriander and 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric, fry for a few minutes, stirring all the time to toast the spices, but don't let them burn and go bitter.

Roughly chop 200g of washed spinach and put in the pan, stir until the leaves have wilted. Add the chicken back into the pan. Add a bay leaf and 1 tablespoon of tomato purée, 1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes (optional), season with salt and pepper. Add about 200-400 ml cold water and cook for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is moist but cooked through. You want enough water to keep everything moist, stop it from catching or burning and as the base for your sauce.

When the chicken is done add 2 tablespoons of ground almonds and about 100ml of cream (I used Double Light Elmlea but you can use what you have, nothing too thick though), you may need to adjust the quantities to ensure you have a rich and creamy sauce.

I had intended to add a squirt of lemon juice at the end but I forgot, you may think it's needed - see what you think.

This curry was really delicious, we had ours with plain basmati rice, it was rich and flavoursome and the closest I've made to the delicious saag you get at the Modhu Mitta restaurant in Mansfield.

When I have the Saag from there I have the King Prawn version and I would recommend you try that with this recipe - substitute the chicken for some Kings Prawns. I also think some chopped fresh tomatoes would make a great addition.

Hope you enjoy it, would love to hear from you if you do try it.