Saag Halloumi with Kale (Saag Paneer)
There are some recipes that you just love more than others: this Saag Halloumi with Kale is definitely one of them - Comfort food with tang and spice. This recipe is loosely based on the Indian classic Saag Paneer adjusted to use ingredients more widely available in the Northern Hemisphere.
Equipment
- 1 large skillet or non stick frying pan
- 1 Blender optional, you can also mince the aromatics by hand
- 1 small skillet optional, only necessary if you're using the blender
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 halloumi diced
- 1 cup or 200g cherry tomatoes
- 1 lemon
- 2,5 cups or 250g frozen kale
Spices
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp curry powder or paprika powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
Aromatics
- 1 large onions
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 knob of ginger the size of your thumb
Instructions
- First, fry the halloumi in a large skillet or non-stick pan with the oil until golden brown. Remove and set to one side.
- Meanwhile, prepare the frozen kale by adding it to a bowl and pouring it with boiling water. The kale and water will turn bright green. This allows the kale to defrost without cooking. You can set this aside while you follow the next steps.
- Blend or Blitz the aromatics: onion, garlic and ginger to the blender. Add just enough water to make sure the blender can blend this mixture. Blend on a high setting, so you have a soupy mixture. Add this mixture to your smaller skillet with a teaspoon of oil. Set on low to medium heat and let blubber away. Keep an eye on this and turn this down if it begins to boil, it should simmer and reduce a little but retain its soupy texture. Using the blender means less cutting and mincing by hand but takes slightly longer for the onion to cook like this, than when it's fried up and cut by hand.
- Now add one to two tablespoons of oil to the large skillet. Add enough, so the bottom of the skillet is coated in oil. Warm this oil up on a medium heat. In a separate bowl on the side, mix all the spices together: cumin, tumeric, garam masala and curry powder. Once the oil is warm, add the spices to the oil and use a ladle to blend them. They'll immediately begin to blubber or "bloom." The oil will very quickly turn brown and smell intensely. Once you smell this, immediately remove the skillet from the heat. You're essentially frying the spices and don't want them to burn. This whole process takes about 30 seconds. Set the skillet aside and don't keep on the heat.
- Now add the cherry tomatoes to the large skillet, in which you fried the halloumi and cook for a few more minutes until the tomatoes have turned soft.
- Next, strain the kale, that you've let defrost in the water. Add this kale to the large skillet with the fried spices, cherry tomatoes (and minced onions, if you haven't used a blender). Make sure everything is combined and break down any still frosted pieces of kale with a wooden spoon or ladle.
- Now add the soupy mixture of onions, garlic and ginger to the large skillet. This mixture should have reduced a little and turned aromatic.
- Combine well and add a pinch of salt. I like to keep the salt to a minimum because the halloumi adds a lot of saltiness. Take the large skillet off of the heat now.
- Juice half a lemon and add the lemon juice bit by bit, adjusting for taste. If the lemon is not very acidic, juice the other half of the lemon and add it too. Make sure not to heat the mixture up again once you've added the lemon, this will take the zing out of the lemon.
- Finally, add the halloumi back into the pan and stir together. Serve immediately with rice or naan, chapati or roti.
Notes
If you don't have a blender, mince the onions, garlic and ginger. Sauté the onions slowly for 10 to 15 minutes until soft and translucent, then add the curry powder, cumin, turmeric, ginger and garlic. Cook for a few more minutes until you can smell the spices, and they've incorporated well into the mixture. Make sure not to overfry the spices, this process takes maybe a minute or so max.