Easy to make, delicious and healthy spinach curry made in Indian style with spices. Goes well with naan, roti or any flavored rice like jeera rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Side
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 2½ cups (150 grams) chopped spinach ((tightly packed, palak))
  • 1½ tablespoons oil
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ cup (1 medium) onion ((fine chopped))
  • 1 to 2 green chilies
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic ((½ tbsp ginger ½ tbsp garlic, or 1 tsp paste))
  • ½ teaspoon salt ((adjust to taste))
  • ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
  • 1½ tablespoon besan ((gram flour) (substitute 4 tbsps almond meal or 6 tbsps fresh/frozen coconut))
  • ¾ teaspoon garam masala ((adjust to taste))
  • 1¼ cup water ((more if needed))
  • ½ to ¾ tablespoon kasuri methi ((dried fenugreek leaves, adjust to taste))
  • 1 to 1½ tablespoon lemon juice ((for serving))
  • ¾ tablespoon ghee (or 1 tbsp butter or oil)
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves ((sliced))
  • 1 to 2 dried red chilies ((broken))
  • ⅛ teaspoon hing ((asafoetida))

Method

  1. Rinse and chop onions, spinach, ginger, garlic and green chillies.

How to make Spinach Curry

  1. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add onions and green chilies.
  2. Saute till the onions turn golden. Add ginger garlic, turmeric and salt. Saute for 2 mins.
  3. Next add besan/gram flour and garam maslaa. On a low heat, saute till the flour begin to smell aromatic. The raw smell of the flour should have completely gone.
  4. Then add spinach and saute till it wilts. To a blender pour ⅔ cups water. Add the sauteed spinach and onion mixture.
  5. Make a smooth or slightly coarse puree to suit your liking.
  6. Transfer this back to the same pot along with more water. (I added 1¼ cups in total to blend and add at this stage). You may need more.
  7. Bring this to a boil and cook for 3 to 4 mins until the spinach curry smells good.
  8. When the curry turns thick yet is of pouring add kasuri methi. Mix and turn off. Taste it and add more salt if needed. It will still taste slightly bland at this stage.

Temper

  1. Heat ghee or butter in a small pan. Add sliced garlic and red chillies. Fry the garlic until it turns golden.
  2. Add hing and pour this to the spinach curry. Give a good mix and cover it.
  3. Squeeze lemon juice before serving. Spinach curry is best served hot with butter naan, roti or jeera rice.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.