"saag" attempts at indian cooking . . . and puns

Ha! You people thought this blog was dead! Wrong! It was merely in a post-holiday food coma.

But here we are, in the darkest, deadliest months of the year . . . winter in New England is a cruel beast. So cruel, you know where I'd almost rather be?

Mumbai!

I've been having a wicked craving for Indian food lately, so the other night I decided to throw caution to the wind and crawl back up on the culinary horse. I found a recipe over here at Happy Herbivore for some delicious and healthy dal and saag.

Spinach and spices and yogurt? I thought. I am well acquainted with all of those things! How hard can this be?

Logistically, not too tricky. Spinach -- check. Five different little jars from the grocery store spice rack -- check. Yogurt -- and why not some greek yogurt, since we're gettin' all international up in here! -- check. Onions . . . shit. Well -- who needs onions anyway?

So, step one: throw all the ingredients in a pan, like so . . .



Pay no attention to the vomitous yellow color and consistency! Remember -- this blog was birthed from the inspiring palate of Nutrisystem. Pre-digested-looking food will never frighten me again. I think at this point, I'd already run the spinach thru the food processor, and was mixing in my kappa gamma yogurt like a champ!

Step 2: (as invented by me) Throw saag on top of chicken breast (sorry, vegans!). Stuff it in some flax wheat pitas. Eat it plain with a spoon. So many ways to enjoy saag! Right?





Wrong.

I wanted to like it. I really did. I wanted to be able to go into work and say, "Man, I made some effing delicious Indian food last night! That's right -- I made it myself! With a recipe . . . and a stove!"

Here's where I think I failed:

1. Spices. This lil' eye-talian can garlic-crust the shit out of anything . . . but hand me a jar of coriander and some ground ginger . . . and you might as well have given me moon dust. A teaspoon? A tablespoon? What is my perferred level of gingery-ness? Clearly not the amount I put in this recipe . . . it was like an tiny, angry gingerbread man took a shit on my tongue.

2. Yogurt. Ok -- apparently not all yogurts are created equal. Though the recipe called for soy yogurt, I went for greek thinking . . . it's thick, it's creamy, what's not to love? I neglected to think carefully about the distinct, sour-creamy tang that plain greek yogurt has. And thus, when introduced to our friends Garlic, Ginger, and Senor Cayenne Pepper . . . there was a Flavah War. And some bitches went down.

3. Onions. I lied. Maybe you do need onions.

I forced myself to experience the entirety of this meal before scrapping the leftovers. But am I deterred? No I am not! I would totally attempt this recipe again, following instruction to the letter next time. If for no other reason than I now have a cupboard full of exotic Indian spices I need to get rid of. If anyone else has any coriander-heavy recipes . . . please, pass them along!

My Indian food cravings were properly satiated here. But the next time I'm feelin' spicy / Bollywoody, I totally intend to tackle the dal . . . stay tuned!