Saag Aloo

Saag Aloo features tender & flavorsome potatoes, sauteed with spices, spinach or your favorite greens. Make this one pot meal under 45 minutes on the stovetop or in the Instant pot with my easy recipe. It’s vegan and gluten-free. Saag Aloo pairs fantastic with whole grain roti, Chapati, Parathas or with steamed rice & quinoa. To extend your menu, include a cucumber salad.

Aloo is the Hindi word for potatoes & Saag refers to leafy greens. A dish cooked with plenty of leafy greens is usually called a Saag. It can be made with any edible greens like mustard greens (sarson), spinach (palak), fenugreek (methi), bathua (wild spinach), chickpea leaves, padyala leaves, kale, beet greens, sweet potato greens etc.

About Saag Aloo

While Aloo Palak is a staple and is made with potatoes and spinach (palak), a Saag Aloo is made with potatoes and any leafy greens. You won’t find Aloo Saag or Saag Paneer on the restaurant menus in India but it is very common outside India.

This recipe helps you make the most delicious & full-flavored Aloo Saag, the easiest way! In this post I am using spinach, fenugreek leaves and pea shoots. But you can use only spinach, or a mix of spinach and any shoots or microgreens or leafy greens you prefer.

To make this Saag Aloo, I love cooking my potatoes with aromatics and plenty of spices so the potatoes are perfectly spiced, bursting with flavors & mouth-melting. Though you may use boiled, baked or air fried potatoes, this way of cooking potatoes with aromatics impart great flavors to your aloo.

To save time, begin to cook once you have the onions, potatoes and aromatics chopped. You will have some time to prepare the rest while your potatoes cook with the aromatics and spices. Traditionally in India, a lot of people do not use tomatoes in leafy green dishes to minimize the oxalates.

There are various things people do to cut down the oxalates, while cooking with high amount of greens. Omitting tomatoes, blanching greens, adding a splash of milk or using a mix of low and high-oxalate greens are some common tips.

This recipe uses only a moderate amount of greens. However if you are on a low-oxalate diet, omit the tomatoes and use a good amount of fresh lemon juice at the time of serving.

More similar recipes
Red Lentil Curry
Aloo Gobi
Baingan Bharta
Tofu Tikka Masala
Chickpea Curry

Ingredients & Substitutes

• Potatoes: I use white potatoes and do not recommend new potatoes as they can get too mushy and break down. You can sub potatoes with sweet potatoes, pumpkin, butternut squash or even with mixed vegetables like carrots, peas, beans and sweet corn. But keep in mind, other veggies will need lesser water.
• Saag: Use young or baby greens, pre-washed if possible. This cuts down the preparation time. If you are using mature greens, trim down the stalks as they can taste bitter. I used fenugreek leaves only because I had to use them up. There are many kinds of sweet tasting greens grown across the world. Find what is locally available and experiment.
• Microgreens: I love using microgreens or shoots with a combination of baby spinach. Microgreens & shoots are more tender, sweeter in flavor and enhances the taste of your saag. But note that the flavor can get too strong if you make this dish only with microgreens or shoots.
• Tomatoes: I use pureed fresh tomatoes, you can sub 1 tsp of tomato paste stirred in with 1 tbsp of water or add 1 tbsp. of passata/ tomato puree. Remember saag does not need lots of tomatoes.
• Green Chilies: Green chilies pair really well with any greens – both for the flavor and heat. Use red chili powder in moderation, too much of it can break your dish. Instead use black pepper or chili flakes to up the heat levels.
• Ground Spices: You may use 1 tablespoon of this Curry powder in place of all the ground spices & cumin listed in the recipe.

Photo Guide

How to make Aloo Saag (Stepwise Photos)

I made 2x recipe, so you will find double the quantities in the pictures.

Preparation

1. You will need 150 grams (5 ounces) cleaned baby spinach (4 cups). Or use a mix of spinach with microgreens/ shoots or baby kale/ fenugreek/mustard greens. Rinse them in plenty of water and drain them to a colander. Shake off well to drain down the water completely. Keep this aside. If using baby kale, destem and chop them. Use only the leaves of mustard greens and avoid including the stems.

2. Prep up the following ingredients:

• Fine chop 1 small onion to make about ½ cup
• 1 medium ripe tomato, deseeded & fine chopped or pureed to make ⅓ cup
• Chop or slit 1 to 2 green chilies (Thai/ Indian or Serrano Peppers, omit for kids)
• Peel and mince ½ inch ginger to make 1 teaspoon
• Peel and mince 2 medium garlic cloves to make 1 teaspoon
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder (or black pepper, adjust to taste)
• ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon Garam masala (adjust to taste)
• ½ teaspoon coriander powder
• ¼ teaspoon cumin powder
• ⅓ to ½ teaspoon sea salt (adjust to taste)
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (optional)
• ½ tablespoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves, optional)

3. Peel and dice 250 grams (2 medium aloo, ½ lb.) potatoes to 1 * ¾ inch. Add them to a bowl of water to prevent discoloring.

Make Aloo Saag

4. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.

5. When they begin to sizzle, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes on a medium heat.

6. Add the potatoes, ginger, garlic and green chilies. Saute for a minute or 2 until the ginger garlic smells good.

7. Stir in the spices – turmeric, chili powder, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt.

8. Pour half cup water and mix well.

9. Cover and cook on a medium heat until the potatoes are cooked al dente. If required add more water as you cook & you don’t need to stir often. This step takes about 8 to 10 mins. While the potatoes cook, puree the tomatoes and roughly chop your greens.

10. It is very essential not to overcook the potatoes. They should slightly al dente. Cut them with a fork or a butter knife and check.

11. Add the tomatoes all over and mix.

12. Cook on a medium high heat until the raw flavor of tomatoes is gone. Avoid over stirring at this stage as the potatoes can break down and turn mushy. Taste test and adjust your salt or spices. If you want, you may fish out the green chilies at this stage.

13. Make sure your greens are drained well. Begin to add in batches. If you are using greens that take longer than spinach, add them first. I used fenugreek so added it here. Mix and let them wilt. If you are using mustard greens or baby kale, add them here.

14. Add the chopped spinach and give a gentle mix, to wilt.

15. Lastly, add kasuri methi and the microgreens. Turn off. You don’t need to cook. The heat in the pan will wilt them.

16. Add a tsp of ghee if you want. Let cool down a bit and squeeze the lemon juice.

Garnish Saag Aloo with chopped coriander leaves or microgreens. Serve with hot steamed Basmati rice, Quinoa or with whole grain roti, Chapati, Plain Paratha or your favorite flatbreads.

Expert Tips

• If you are using other greens than what I have used, prepare them as required. Some greens like kale will require destemming and more mature leaves require blanching to cut down the bitter taste. To make larger batches, wilt the leaves in a large wok and add them to the cooked potatoes.
• If using fenugreek, kale or mustard greens, use 3 parts (3 cups) spinach to 1 part fenugreek/mustard greens/ kale (1 cup). 
• I like to puree my tomatoes because chopped tomatoes take longer to cook and you risk your potatoes turning mushy.
• Using a little ghee at the finishing stage or while serving enhances the flavor. You may use ghee to cook the dish or simply add a teaspoon of ghee at the time of finishing. We add it to hot rice at the time of serving or spread over roti/ chapati while cooking.
• Spice and flavor your potatoes but not the saag. So add ground spices when you cook the potatoes and not along with your saag.
• This dish won’t taste good if you make it too spicy. Let the flavors & taste of the greens shine through.

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