vegetarian saag {recipe}

On Friday night, we had a special treat and got Indian food from our favorite restaurant. We live about 30 minutes away from the place, so we don't get it very often. My husband brought the food home after he took his final exam. I got my usual Tikka Masala and he ordered Saag. While eating, my husband commented that he thought he could make saag. On Sunday, he gave it a try and created this vegetarian version that was delicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

ingredients:

1/2 cup butter*
1 medium onion
5 medium to large garlic cloves
1 pound mixed bitter and mild greens**
1 cup water
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon crushed coriander
1 cup greek yogurt

directions:

+ In a dutch oven or large saucepan, clarify and brown the butter.  Melt the butter over medium heat and simmer.  The butter will froth and the froth will slowly cook away.  It will froth again.  After the second froth is gone, the butter is clarified.  Continue cooking until the butter is amber in color.  This is brown butter.

+ While the butter is cooking, finely chop the onion.  Add chopped onion to the butter and cook until translucent.

+ While onions are cooking, dice garlic.  Add garlic and spices and saute for 2-3 minutes.

+ Add greens and 1 cup water.  Simmer for 10 minutes, until greens are wilted.

+ In a food processor or blender, puree the onion/spice/greens mixture in batches.

+ Return puree to pan/pot and reheat for only a moment.  Mix in yogurt and heat through.  Serve hot over jasmine rice. Yields 4 servings.

*For a healthier option, use 2 tablespoons coconut oil or evoo

**Bitter greens are turnip greens, mustard greens, or collard greens and mild greens are spinach

We also added sliced mushrooms (about 5-6) to ours. Just in case you're wondering what the lump is in the photo above! Next time, I'm going to try making some naan to go along with it.

Have you tried any new-to-you recipes lately?