Lamb saag

By: Dan Toombs
From: The Curry Guy
Serves: 4 or more as part of a multi-course meal

Good British lamb saag (saag gosht) is very close to the authentic Punjabi version. In the subcontinent, the meat is slowly cooked on the bone in a large karahi until the lamb almost falls off the bone into the rich spinach sauce. Some British Pakistani and Punjabi restaurants still prepare the curry in this way and promote it as one of their house special dishes.

At most curry houses, however, it’s made in under 10 minutes using prepared ingredients and plenty of cooking stock from pre-cooked lamb. This recipe might be quick, but when done correctly, it will taste like it’s been gently simmering for hours. If you like buttery ghee, this is a good one to use it in.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
225g	baby spinach leaves
3-6	fresh green bullet chillies, to taste
bunch	fresh coriander, leaves only
4 tablespoons	ghee, rapeseed oil
or	seasoned oil
1	onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons	garlic paste, see recipe note
1 tablespoon	ginger paste, see recipe note
3 tablespoon	finely chopped coriander stalks
1 tablespoon	ground cumin
1 tablespoon	ground coriander
1 tablespoon	Mixed powder
1 teaspoon	chilli powder
180ml	Tomato purée
375ml	Base curry sauce (large batch), heated
600g	Pre-cooked stewed lamb/meat, plus 250ml of its cooking stock
2 tablespoons	plain yoghurt
1	lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon	Garam masala
	salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

Put the spinach, chillies and coriander leaves in a food processor and blend to a smooth paste with a little water (or spice stock). Set aside.
Heat the ghee or oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and fry for about 15 minutes until translucent and soft but not overly browned. Add the garlic and ginger pastes, and allow to sizzle for about 30 seconds. Add the coriander stalks, ground cumin and coriander, mixed powder and chilli powder, and stir to combine.
Swirl in the tomato purée and about 250ml of the base curry sauce and let it come to a happy simmer. Add the stock and the rest of the base sauce. You can let it simmer for a few minutes and you don’t need to stir unless it is obviously catching on the pan. Be sure to stir in any caramelized sauce from the sides of the pan from time to time.
Add the pre-cooked lamb pieces and simmer in the sauce until heated through. When the sauce is about the consistency you prefer, pour in the spinach purée and stir it all up. The bright green spinach will become darker as it cooks. Simmer for a further couple of minutes. If the sauce becomes too dry for your liking, just add a little more base sauce and/or lamb stock. To finish, season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the yoghurt 1 tbsp at a time then top with a squeeze of lemon juice and the garam masala.