Alu Kumro Diye Palong Shaak / Bengali Dry Spinach Curry with Pumpkin and Potatoes

Any kind of greens or saag always topped my list of hateful buddies in my teen. Well...as a child I was rather neutral to them as...well to speak honestly, I didn’t care what was in that plate as long as my mother was feeding me. But then...you hit the puberty, and things start to get complicated.

My mother used to cook saag the pure vegetarian way. No onion and no garlic. And I hated it. When she pushed me too much I used to eat those greens with a glass of water and holding my nose shut with two fingers so that I can’t smell those veggies. Yes...yes...I know...so complicated. And now realize its only a miracle that I became a food blogger. So seeing me throwing all those tantrums...one of my aunts suggested my mother to cook the saags with garlic. The frenzy smell of garlic suppresses the smell of greens and thus making it more eatable for me.

Heat oil and add minced garlic, hing / asafoetida and dry red chilli. Saute for half a minute.

Add potatoes an salt and cook until lightly golden from outside.

Add pumpkins, salt, chillies.

Add the turmeric powder.

Add the frozen spinach.

Cook covered until all the veggies are cooked and then simmer to make the curry dry.

My mother used to cook Saag on its own...but I really liked a recipe from Bongmom, where she cooked the spinach with other veggies. I tried that once...and it became an instant hit in our home. Besides I always keep a bag of frozen spinach in my freezer all the time. So...whenever we don’t feel like eating fish or meat...this beautiful spinach curry saves the day for us.

Alu Kumro Diye Palong Shaak

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 and ½ cups of frozen baby spinach (If you are using fresh spinach, then blanch them for 2 minutes in boiling water before cooking.)

4 fat cloves of garlic – minced

2 slit green chillies

A pinch of hing / asafoetida

1 dry red chilli

1 medium potato – peeled and cubed

1 cup cubed and peeled pumpkin

½ tsp turmeric powder

Salt

1 tbsp oil

Method:

Heat oil and temper it with minced garlic, hing / asafoetida and dry red chilli.

Sauté for some seconds and then add the cubed potatoes.

Sprinkle some salt over them and cook the potatoes until lightly golden from the outside. And when poked it should break a little but should still be raw in the inside.

Now add the cubed and peeled pumpkins, slit green chillies and turmeric powder.

Mix everything well and put cover.

Cook the pumpkins for 2-3 minutes on medium flame.

After 2 minutes open the cover and add frozen spinach. You can also thaw them before you use. But I like to cook them frozen because the additional water from them gives the vegetables more time to cook and I don’t have to add additional water also.

Sprinkle some more salt and cook the spinach covered.

Check every 2 minutes and give a good stir so that they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

When all the water is evaporated and spinach leaves are cooked perfectly, check the potatoes.

If they are cooked as well...taste and adjust the seasonings.

Put off the flame and serve with hot plain rice as a starter.