Chana Saag
May 25, 2016, Updated Jan 02, 2018
Spinach and Chickpeas cooked with onion, tomatoes & spices makes Chana Saag a comforting meal. Serve it with rice naan!
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Easy and Vegan Chana Saag – Spinach and Chickpeas cooked with onion, tomatoes & spices makes a comforting meal. Serve it with rice or any bread of your choice.
You know sometimes it happen that you eat something you love so much that then you don’t want to eat it again for the next few days. Happens with you? Like I told you guys, I went to this food conference last weekend and seriously there was so much food, especially desserts! We had waffles for breakfast, fruit tarts for lunch and cupcakes for dinner! And not to forget the popsicles and sorbet in between. Needless to say, I ate each and everything and now I clearly feel very fat and unfit. I mean I love sweets but right now, I feel like taking a break from all sorts of desserts and eat some greens.
If you have followed my blog for a bit, you would know I love spinach and all things green. Yeah it’s totally weird that I Â love two totally opposite things – desserts and greens. Chana and saag are becoming quite popular in the US these days. I see packets of frozen/read to eat chana saag or saag paneer in many grocery stores these days.
Saag in India usually means a mix of greens like spinach, methi (fenugreek), bathua, sarson (mustard greens) etc. However a lot of time only spinach is also referred to as saag. I made this chana saag recipe really simple for you. I used a spinach blend which I got from Trader Joe’s. It of course had spinach but also had mustard greens and pak choi which made the saag so much more flavorful. To cut short my cooking time, I used canned chickpeas, you may well use raw chickpeas.
This chana saag recipe is vegan, gluten free and comes together rather quickly. A quick weeknight dinner which is ready in no time and it’s healthy too! If you can’t find this spinach blend, simply use spinach in this recipe.
Method
The first pic is just to show you guys the spinach blend that I used. You can use only spinach as well but it’s more flavorful when you use a mix of greens. This one from trader joe’s has spinach, pak choi and mustard greens. You may use methi (fenugreek) and bathua as well.
Place the spinach blend in a pan and add little water to it. Boil for few minutes till the spinach starts to wilt.
Immediately remove the spinach from pan and place under cold water and then chop finely.
Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and let them crackle. Then add grated garlic and saute for few seconds till the garlic starts to turn brown.
Add chopped onions now and also 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Saute for 1-2 minutes or till onions turn translucent.
Add chopped tomatoes and mix. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add curry powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, cumin powder and salt and mix.
Cook for 2-3 minutes or till oil starts oozing from the sides of the masala.
Add the chickpeas and cook for a minute.
Now add the chopped spinach blend and cook for another minute or so.
Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Sprinkle garam masala on top and serve chana saag hot with rice, naan or any bread of your choice. You may also squeeze in some fresh lemon juice before serving.
* You may use regular milk or heavy cream in place if not vegan.
* You may adjust the amount of coconut milk in the recipe. Add more for a thinner curry.
Chana Saag
Ingredients
- 15 oz can chickpeas or use 1.25 cups cooked chickpeas
- 300 grams spinach blend I used mix of spinach, mustard greens and pak choi
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3 big garlic cloves grated
- 1 red onion medium, finely chopped
- 2 large tomatoes finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne/red chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder + more to sprinkle
- salt to taste
- 7-8 tablespoons coconut milk
- juice of 1/2 lemon optional
Instructions
- Place the spinach blend in a pan and add little water to it. Boil for few minutes till the spinach starts to wilt.
- Immediately remove the spinach from pan and place under cold water and then chop finely.
- Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
- Then add grated garlic and saute for few seconds till the garlic starts to turn brown.
- Add chopped onions now and also 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Saute for 1-2 minutes or till onions turn translucent.
- Add chopped tomatoes and mix. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add curry powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, cumin powder and salt and mix.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes or till oil starts oozing from the sides of the masala.
- Add the chickpeas and cook for a minute.
- Now add the chopped spinach blend and cook for another minute or so.
- Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Sprinkle garam masala on top and serve chana saag hot with rice, naan or any bread of your choice. You may also squeeze in some fresh lemon juice before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Chana Saag
Delicious! The whole family loved it. Thank you!
Due to ingredients I had on hand, I made it with half the amount of spinach blend (spinach and arugula) and soy milk instead of coconut milk.
I really enjoy Channa Saag and have tried many different recipes. Yours has become my all time favorite next to the baked variety with ghee. I love the vegan option so my wife can share it with me. 🙂 The only modifications I made were to up the amount of greens(half again more) and chickpeas (another 1/4 cup) plus I add fresh peeled and slivered ginger root to the garlic step. Fantastic! Thank you for sharing your recipe 😀
What a neat recipe! Can you tell me what’s in the curry powder, please?
It was store bought, usually it’s a mix of coriander, turmeric, black pepper etc.
This was delicious. Even using 2 hot house tomatoes in February it tasted great. I didnt have the cumin seeds and was a little light on the fresh spinach. I used a little more garam masala and 9 TBS coconut milk too. Never the less, I thought it was the best.
glad to know
I loved this, delicious. I had always ordered this at my favorite Indian restaurant, and it was green, chickpeas in a semi-smooth green sauce. I would assume the spinach was pureed. Could I adapt your recipe to mimic that style prep?
maybe use the spinach base in these recipes: https://www.cookwithmanali.com/palak-tofu/ https://www.cookwithmanali.com/palak-paneer/ and then add chickpeas to it!
Just made this but substituted mustard greens and Swiss chard mixture for the spinach, and a can of tomatoes and green chili for the fresh tomatoes. It is delicious!
awesome!
There’s an allergy to coconut and nuts in our house. Any idea whether something would work as a substitute for coconut milk? Thanks.
You can use regular milk in place!
Recipes like this make cooking for my vegetarian wife a breeze!
Glad you like it!
I understand sweets overload! This dish looks like the perfect way to get back on track! I’ve made Chana masala, but never saag so I’m excited to try this 🙂
I can definitely get sick of a food if I have it too much, especially at the holidays. I’ll have a slice of pie too many and decide that I really don’t want anything that sweet for a long while.
I’ve had this at restaurants, but I’ve never made it. And it looks so easy to put together. I’ll have to try it. I love that it’s vegan!