Aloo Palak

I would think the most popular Indian spinach dish out there is probably Palak Paneer. Yet there are so many different ways of cooking spinach Indian style. I’m guessing there aren’t too many people who really like spinach. Indians however are very good at turning spinach into something really delicious. An lesser known example is Aloo Palak.

Aloo Palak is a North Indian preparation of spinach and potatoes ( Aloo = Potatoes and Palak = Spinach). It can be eaten with flatbreads like chapathis and parathas or rice depending on whether you prepare it with a thick gravy, thin gravy or no gravy at all.

Aloo Palak is typically potatoes in a reasonably spicy spinach-onions- tomato gravy cooked with Indian spices. There are a lot of different ways of cooking this dish. I prefer to boil and then deep fry the potatoes till golden brown before adding them to the spinach gravy. Most recipes call for plain boiled potatoes.

Most of us in India have access to fresh spinach. You can use frozen spinach too but fresh leaves give you the best flavour.  I do blanch and freeze fresh spinach sometimes as I don’t always cook spinach the same day I buy it. Start by removing the roots and parts of mature stalk. Rinse out the leaves really well. I soak all my fresh greens in salt water for about half an hour before I cook them. This takes care of any invisible critters hiding on and in the leaves. Drain the leaves well and blanch in boiling water for a minute. Immediately transfer the spinach to cold water. Drain and freeze.

My preferred method is to steam cook the leaves. Cool them in cold water. Drain and then blend them till smooth or chunky, depending on how I’m going to cook them. Then I freeze this but usually use it up within three to four days. I have never needed to freeze spinach longer.

Since this dish calls for a smooth gravy I blend the onions and tomatoes well before I start cooking them. This also makes for a faster cook. To boil potatoes for this recipe I peel, cube and then par boil the potatoes in salted water. Then I fry them but don’t cook them in the gravy for long and the potatoes are salted perfectly. I also find that ghee (oil is good too) makes for a more flavourful Aloo Palak.

When cooking any Indian dish with spinach leaves, I tend to use a little less turmeric powder. Turmeric tends to change the deep green of spinach to a slightly olive or dirty green colour. It’s just about aesthetics and nothing else. I also prefer not to add cred chilli powder and use only green chillies for the same reason.