Feather's Delicious Curried Spinach and Potato Dish

Originally posted here by Feather.

Oh my little droogies I have been wanting to contribute to the slate of cooking before they get (too) old, so I offer up this little gem from the depths of my cooking dungeons:

Ingredients

• 1 Medium Onion
• 6 cloves garlic¹
• 12-14 oz of fresh spinach (you can find this in a bag at your grocery store, usually, or with the other veggies where you can bag it yourself).
• 2 large potatoes, peeled, diced, and rinsed.
• 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans (or 1 14-16oz can if you prefer), rinsed & drained
• 2 cups Basmati rice
• 2 tbsp Curry Paste (to your desired spicey-ness; I prefer very hot, but had to cook this dish for people that can't take it, so you'll see "Mild" here instead)
• 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cups of water
• A few small fresh limes²

1: If you hate garlic, reduce this number; the original recipe I was given calls for 2 cloves. I, however, could eat garlic much as I would an apple if it didn't sting so badly, so I chose to use a little more. 2: If you aren't a big fan of the salty-sweet flavor of lime, use just one; the idea is to give it a "hint" of the flavor.

Here's a collection of ingredients I assembled:

Note that I have already peeled the potatoes and diced one!

Usually I make the curry paste myself, but didn't have the time this time so I bought some from my local Indian grocer when I picked up the mustard seeds:

Place a large, deep frying pan on medium heat and let it warm up.

First, wilt the spinach over low-medium heat. Do not fucking cook the spinach, just wilt it goddamnit. It looks like this when you stick it by handfuls into a pan:

You'll want to sprinkle teaspoonfuls of water into the pan between batches maybe, depending on your cookware. Don't use oils or anything else.

It looks like this when you are all done:

Note how the spinach is a rich green and just wilted but not shrivelled, i.e. not cooked

I hope you've peeled your garlic and onion! Now roughly chop the onion and crush the garlic (if you're a poor college student, like me, with no budget and three pieces of kitchenware for cutting and eating, you accomplish this efficiently by placing the flat of a blade atop a single clove and tapping it slightly with a hammer until the garlic is crushed):

Next, pour the vegetable oil into the large frying pan and let it heat for about half a minute or so. Fry the crushed garlic and onion for 5 minutes:

Now we stir in the paste and mustard seeds and fry for 1-2 minutes:

I have a weakness here. Sometimes I'll take a spoonful of this mixture and eat it. Because it's fucking crack, I tell you. Anyway, onward into our cooking journey!

Cook the Basmati rice as usual, and start now (you have to boil the water then stir in the rice, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes).

Dump the diced potatoes into the frying pan and pour the water (both cups) in. Then stir so everything's nicely coated and covered. The water should just top the potatoes:

Bring to the boil and let cook 20-25, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are almost tender (don't cook until they're done). You can test this by sticking a :fork: into one of the pieces of potato; if it slides very easily into the piece or the piece falls apart you've overcooked it.

Here's what it looks like when it gets to "the boil:"

The water will evaporate and be absorbed into the potatoes over time. It's about halfway done here:

At about the 20 or 25 minute mark most of the potatoes should be at least halfway visible:

Now we stir in the spinach:

And then the garbanzo beans:

Cook this for about 5-7 minutes, stirring a few times. While this is happening, you should be able to remove the rice from the simmer and let it begin to cool slightly. Also, slice your lime(s) in half:

The final step before serving is to squeeze the lime juice in and then stir it:

(Note the bit of spinach and shit around the pan, demonstrating my lack of dexterity for the world to laugh at.)

The final dish, served over rice, looks something like this:

Prep time: 30-45 minutes. Total cost for all ingredients: ~US$10, most of which was the new jar of paste and the mustard seeds. Serves 8 regular sized people (give or take) and 4-6 internet nerds. :v:

This stuff is almost as good as the curried chickpeas I love so much. I could probably eat nothing but these two dishes the rest of my life and die a happy person. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it (and eating it)! :D

It's also worthy to note that cooking this sort of thing leaves you with really messy dishes. Soak everything that touched the curry paste as soon as you're able because otherwise you'll have stained dishes.