Spinach with pine nuts and sultanas

Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a frypan and stir-fry a bunch of chopped spinach leaves over fairly high heat for a few minutes, until the spinach starts to wilt. Season with salt and pepper, then toss in a generous handful of sultanas, plus a generous handful of pine nuts and keep stir-frying for another minute. Serve as a side dish.
Note: you can use raisins or currants, instead of the sultanas.

Lamb Curry with Spinach Sauce (Lamb Saag)

1 bunch spinach
2 medium turnips (or 2 medium potatoes, or 2 medium swedes)
500g lamb, cut into 2cm cubes (see note)
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garam masala

1. First make the spinach sauce. Chop the spinach, and cut the turnips (or the potatoes or Swedes) into smallish dice. Place both into a steamer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the turnips are soft. Put the cooked spinach and turnips into a food processor or blender and blend until it’s a puree. Set aside to use in step 4.

2. Heat the oil in a frypan and cook the onion and ginger until it softens and starts to turn golden. Then add the chilli, turmeric, salt and garam masala and cook 1 minute more, stirring all the time.

3. Add the diced lamb and cook over medium heat until it changes colour (at least 5 minutes, preferably 10). Then turn the heat as low as possible, cover the saucepan with a lid, and let it cook gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

4. By this stage the lamb will be tender. Now, stir in the spinach sauce, let it warm through for 5 minutes, giving it an occasional stir to combine flavours. Serve with rice.
Note: you can substitute chicken pieces for lamb, if you like, but cut the cooking time to 45 minutes.

Spinach tips

1. Always wash spinach really well before cooking. If you’re buying spinach from a shop, it often has lots of gritty sand trapped in the stalks, so it needs really thorough washing before cooking it.
2. You can cook spinach by steaming it, or stir-frying. However you do it, it only takes a few minutes to wilt.
3. A classic flavour booster for spinach is a pinch of nutmeg. Try it sometime. Just a pinch sprinkled over the spinach as it cooks is enough.
 

Copyright CTC Productions 2008