Creamy Chicken Saagwala

Serves 6

I've always loved this curry when we eat Indian (our go-to comfort food). It's easy to recreate at home. I use frozen spinach because I always have some on hand and it makes the dish very quick to pull together.

Chicken Saagwala Photo: Kelly Gibney

Ingredients

• 1 onion - finely diced
• 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
• 4 x large garlic cloves - finely diced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 500g frozen spinach leaves
• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 400g can coconut cream
• 1 1/2 cups  (375ml) vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Juice of 1 lime or lemon
• 800g free-range chicken thighs - cut into chunks
• Salt and cracked black pepper for seasoning
• Coconut oil for sautéing

Method

Heat a generous dollop of oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent and tender. Add the spices and cayenne pepper. Stir for a further minute, adding more oil if the pan is dry.

Add the spinach (fine to add it frozen), tomatoes, salt, coconut cream and stock. Bring to a boil and stir until the spinach has thawed and is thoroughly combined. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir through the lime juice.

Place in a food processor or blender and blitz until the spinach is finely chopped and the sauce is green. A blender will give a very fine result and a food processor a more roughly chopped sauce.
 
Heat a very generous dollop of oil in a sauté pan over a high heat. Add the chicken and cook for two minutes on both sides until browned.  Add the spinach sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
 
Serve with steamed millet, brown rice or quinoa. Leftover curry will last 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge.