Description
A comforting and flavorful Butter Bean Saag featuring tender butter beans cooked with fragrant spices and spinach, perfect for a wholesome vegetarian meal served with chapatis and mango chutney.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients
- 25g ghee or butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 20g ginger, grated
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 green chilli, deseeded if you prefer less heat, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
- 400g frozen spinach
- 400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ lemon, juiced
To Serve
- Chapatis
- Mango chutney
Instructions
- Heat ghee and fry onion and mustard seeds: Heat the ghee or butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the finely chopped onion and black mustard seeds. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden around the edges and the mustard seeds begin to pop.
- Add aromatics and tomato purée: Stir in the grated ginger, grated garlic, finely chopped green chilli, and tomato purée. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture is fragrant and the tomato purée has caramelised slightly.
- Add spices, fenugreek, spinach, and simmer: Mix in the ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, and dried fenugreek leaves if using. Add the frozen spinach along with a splash of water. Reduce the heat to medium-low and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is thoroughly defrosted and any excess liquid has thickened and reduced.
- Incorporate butter beans and lemon juice: Stir in the drained and rinsed butter beans, then pour in the lemon juice. Season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper if desired, mixing well to combine.
- Serve: Serve the butter bean saag hot alongside warm chapatis and mango chutney for a delicious and balanced meal.
Notes
- For less heat, remove the seeds from the green chilli before chopping.
- Dried fenugreek leaves add authentic flavor but can be omitted if unavailable.
- Using ghee enhances the richness, but butter works well as a substitute.
- If you prefer a thinner consistency, add a little more water while simmering.
- Make sure to rinse canned butter beans well to reduce sodium content.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Indian
Keywords: Butter bean saag, spinach curry, Indian vegetarian recipe, easy vegetarian curry, butter beans recipe, healthy spinich curry
