Saag aloo is a classic northern Indian Curry featuring potatoes and leafy greens, mine is vegan and heartwarmingly delicious.

Indian Vegetarian and Vegan Curries.

I am a long way from being either vegan or vegetarian. But when it comes to Indian food you are just as likely to find me cooking or ordering a vegan or veggie curry as you are a meaty one.

Whether it is something like Aloo Gobi, a simple potato and cauliflower curry or my completely made up mushroom and spinach curry, Indian flavours somehow negate the need for meat as far as I am concerned!

This curry is one of my favourites, it is simple and quick to make and is a great introduction to Indian food.

Like all curries whether it is spicy or not comes down to you the cook.

I like mine pretty hot, but you can scale this up and down by increasing or decreasing the chilli.

Or indeed removing the seeds and membrane from the chilli peppers.

A Saag Aloo Without Spinach?

Often associated with spinach the name saag often throws none Indian cooks a curveball.

The name saag just refers to leafy greens in Punjabi. However, for many cooks around the world, it has become synonymous with Spinach.

Palak is the Punjabi word for spinach and is arguably most commonly see in the classic Palak Paneer curry.

I try and use Swiss Chard, in this recipe because it has the most incredible iron-rich earthy flavour. It also has the most wonderful colour!

You could even swap out the spinach in my chicken saagwala recipe and use chard leaves instead.

You could use kale, spinach, mustard greens, turnip tops as a sub in this recipe or any combination you like.

Serving Suggestions, Hints & Tips.

There are two things that I like to serve with this curry, the first is chapati and as far as I am concerned it is none negotiable.

Indian food loves flatbread and vice versa, and for a dry curry like this one that means roti or chapati to me.

The second is beer, that is because you can take the Brit out of Britain but you can’t take Britain out of the brit 😉

I have one final hint for this recipe and that is the choice of potato. It can and will make a huge difference to the texture of this dish.

Just like my Bombay potato recipe I always go for a waxy potato, they will often be labelled salad potatoes or new potatoes.

They keep their structure better when cooking which leads to a better eating dish as far as I am concerned.