Saag Aloo- Spinach and Potato Balti

The perfect dish for a meat free day or when you fancy a lighter curry. Birmingham Balti is rich in iron, cooking with spinach in your Balti Bowl is going to give you a generous dose of iron goodness and the balti cook method will take this classic vegetarian curry to a the next level for flavour.  

Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 2 (split ingredients between two balti bowls or halve the ingredients if you are cooking for one)

60ml coconut oil or light veg oil 
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 brown onion peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 green finger chilli, finely chopped
100g ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground kashmiri chilli
1 tsp fine sea salt
225g pre cooked potatoes  peeled, halved and cut into 1½cm-thick slices (pre cook in salted water until just tender- not too soft or they will fall apart in the second cook stage)
500g frozen whole leaf spinach, defrosted
1/2 lemon, squeezed, to get 1-2 tsp juice
Naan Bread, to serve

Put the oil in your Balti Bowl over a medium heat until very hot, then tip in the mustard and cumin seeds, and leave to fizz and crackle for up to a minute. Add the onion, cook for around 5 minutes, until soft and golden, then add the garlic, ginger and fresh chillies and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes, until the raw garlic smell disappears.

Stir in the tomatoes, ground spices and salt, and cook for about 3 minutes, until you can see the oil separate from the tomato mixture. Add the potatoes, spinach and 100ml just-boiled water,  cook for about 5/6 minutes, stirring every half minute or so until the liquid has been driven off and you are left with a lovely, thick balti with tender potatoes that don’t resist a knife. The sticky caramelisation should be visible around the edges of your Balti Bowl. 

Stir through the lemon juice and taste: add more lemon juice to balance out the sweetness with the spicy spinach and potato mixture, if need be, and serve hot with fresh naan bread.