Saag with paneer and cumin rice
Kickstarting a greens series with spiced, mashed spinach
Hello, my name is Apoorva Sripathi and I’m a writer and editor. This week’s paid subscriber newsletter is a recipe for saag, basically a spinach mash that is an excellent base for just about anything and I hope you’ll give it a go. If you’d like to support my work, please consider a paid subscription. Thank you!
January is a famously blue month but it can also be green, owing to the glut of green powders out there that claim to offer immunity, energy, and every other superpower under the belt. To the canon of green powders, I have added one of my own previously, noting that it’s “definitely not a nutritional supplement”, but that it “does have endless potential, however”.
So does this series that’s built on the same “endless potential” that greens have to offer us – from today’s recipe of saag with paneer that’s a riff on my mother’s quick palak paneer to a spinach buttermilk kootu that’s simple and savoury and perhaps a leek, spinach, and pea mac and cheese that makes no scientific claims but is just wonderful to make and eat. I can think of non-spinach ones too, like a green chutney that’s great on eggs or spooned over ricotta toast. How about a tofu and broccoli paratha paired with chilli oil?
Use any green you’re comfortable with for this recipe (saag is greens in Hindi), except maybe baby spinach which tends to become slimy. Chard and kale are good here, so are amaranth and mustard greens (which you can combine with spinach), and cavolo nero, as well as beet and carrot tops. I’ve added dill and coriander leaves before with much success. Make extra saag and top it with anything you wish, sometimes something as simple as fried garlic makes for a wonderful meal with rice or bread. I also think leftovers would be great in a toastie. Endless potential indeed!