North Indian
Chana Saag
Chana Saag is North Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the protein alongside. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 30 oz canned chickpeas
- 12 oz baby spinach
- 1 onion
- 2 tomato
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1.5 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 4 cups cooked basmati rice
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium and let the cumin seeds sizzle for 30 seconds.
- Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until softened and golden, about 7 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped tomato, coriander, and turmeric and cook until the tomato breaks down, about 5 minutes.
- Add the drained chickpeas with a splash of water, season with salt, and simmer 8 minutes.
- Fold in the spinach in handfuls until wilted, then simmer 3 minutes more.
- Stir in the garam masala and serve over the basmati rice.
Serve it with
A North Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Chana Saag, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Chana Saag carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Grains, Pulses, and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Chana Saag takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on chickpea, spinach, and tomato.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from the United States and North India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.