My take on the famous Indian recipe. I make it with tofu instead and it’s absolutely delicious. Very easy to make, healthy, super green! Packed full of goodness.
Who says food can’t be colourful? This dish is so striking that it is perfect to make on dull, dreary, wintery evenings. It’s also very easy to make and because it is made using frozen spinach, you can pretty much ignore the seasons and make it all year round!
Perfectly vegan, you will not notice the paneer is missing. The tofu really does make a brilliant non-dairy substitute, and actually it’s a lot easier to get hold of as most supermarkets stock pretty good tofu now, whereas paneer is a little harder to find. Of course, you could make your own paneer, but really, I promise, you won’t notice it’s missing.
I recommend blending the spinach very well. I blend it in a power blender (nutribullet) with some water so that it comes out almost like a smoothie drink in terms of texture. For me, it is a nicer dish when the spinach has very little graininess to it. But that really is a matter of taste and if you prefer a little grain to the spinach then just don’t blend it for as long, or don’t use a high powered blender, use a food processor instead.
The tofu needs to be marinated for at least 30 minutes and in fact the longer the better. Also, in my experience, it seems to marinate better if you leave it in the fridge to marinate.
This is such a beautifully simple dish that you will be so happy you made. If you are wondering what to serve it with, I think that pita fries make a perfect accompaniment.
Enjoy!
- 1 firm tofu block cut into 1cm x 2cm rectangles
- 500 g frozen spinach (I use tulleys)
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tsp garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, chopped
- 1 red chilli, chopped (or ½ tsp chilli flakes)
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp tumeric powder
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ cup natural yoghurt (optional for non-vegan)
- ¼ cup coconut cream/milk (optional for vegan)
- Defrost the spinach.
- In a bowl make the marinade by mixing together 3 tablespoons olive oil and the turmeric, cayenne pepper and ½ teaspoon salt.
- Pat the tofu dry and chop it into small cubes, about 2cm.
- Add the tofu pieces to the bowl, mix it around so that all sides of the tofu pieces have some marinade on them and put in the fridge for at lest 30 minutes (the longer the better).
- Put thawed spinach in a food processor/blender and blend until smooth. The nutri-bullet is perfect for this. Add a little water if it is too thick as you want it to be a batter consistency.
- In a pan heat olive oil and fry the marinated tofu so that it is brown on all sides. Once cooked, remove tofu and put to the side.
- Add to the same pan the rest of the marinade oil and the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry until soft. If it starts to burn add a splash of water.
- After 15 minutes, add the coriander, cumin, garam masala and a little water and cook for 3 minutes. Add spinach, season and stir well.
- Add the tofu back into the mixture.
- If you are not vegan then stir in ½ cup plain yoghurt. If you are vegan you can either leave it and serve as it is (still yum) or mix in ¼ cup coconut cream/milk.
- Serve with rice or pita or naan.
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