Saag dishes are often associated with lamb and chicken, but this beef option is ultra tasty. I replace the ground spices with whole spices, I dry roast in a pan then grind for better flavour profile.
Ingredients
1½ pounds beef chuck, cut into ½ inch cubes, patted dry and sprinkled with salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon ghee (or butter)
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon turmeric
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons plain whole fat yogurt (paleo: omit)
2 cups beef stock
5 green cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon salt
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained
Directions
Heat the oil and butter in a Dutch oven or heavy pot. Fry the beef until nicely browned on all sides. Transfer to a plate and set aside. For better results don’t overload your pot, fry the beef off in matches so it fries and doesn’t stew, you want that colour on your meat.
Saute the onions for 25 minutes until caramelized. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for 3 minutes. Add the spices, except for the bay leaf and cardamom pods, and saute for another minutes.
Add the tomato paste and the tomatoes and deglaze the bottom of the pan, (I used 100ml dry white wine) scraping up any of the browned bits. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the yogurt.
Add the beef cubes, beef broth, bay leaf, cardamom pods and salt. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add the spinach and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add salt to taste. Serve with steamed Basmati rice.