Nooooot my most attractive meal to date.
Ohhhhhhh ho ho ho, man. I can only seriously hope and pray and wish that you’ve either seen or eat or witnessed someone else eat saag in an Indian restaurant before and that you know what it looks like, and that you’ve not already gotten sick to your stomach and thrown your computer out into a pile of leaves.
And you’re probably used to seeing adorable tiny chunks of white cubes floating around in the saag. But see, that would be paneer. Which would be cheese. Which would be suicide for my husband. So the adorable tiny chunks floating around in this saag are steak.
OH THE SACRIFICES IN MARRIAGE.
Aaron and I have this long standing tradition when we eat at Indian restaurants. Oh! A tradindiaon.
That didn’t even work for a second.
So he’ll get the chicken tikka masala and I’ll get the saag paneer, and we’ll share them over basmati rice dotted with bright green peas and fresh garlic naan. And you’re bored.
But it’s like my favorite thing IN LIFE. The contrast of spicy sauces, the tender chunks of chicken and paneer, the fluffy naan canoeing the food into my face, my obsessive need for Aaron to try JUST ONE PANEER. Just one single paneer, dude. Just try it! It doesn’t even taste like cheese. Swear it. Here, try it. Open your mouth and say chee – oh oops I mean…
I’d better watch my back before I’m GONE GIRL. (Omg, nearly halfway through the book now and I’m absolutely freaking out. I have an eagle eye on Aaron’s every move constantly and he’s like WHAT is your deal.)
So, slow cooker beef saag. Can’t get much easier than this. Throw a bunch and I mean a bunch of spinach and aromatics and spices into yer crocker potter and let the magical wand of time bless your soul and home with scents and tastes so unpredictable and brilliant that they are sure to mess.you.up.
I mean, it wouldn’t hurt him to try just one paneer, for crying out loud.
Slow Cooker Beef Saag:
(adapted from Suburban Bites)
What it took for 6:
* 2 pounds baby spinach
* 2 red onions, roughly chopped
* 5 serrano peppers, stems removed
* 1 head garlic, peeled
* 4-inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped
* 2 cups cherry tomatoes (or even a can of diced tomatoes is fine)
* 4 Tbs. cumin
* 2 Tbs. garam masala
* 1 Tbs. turmeric
* 1 Tbs. chili powder
* 2 pounds beef chuck, cut into small cubes
* coarse salt & freshly ground pepper
* cooked white basmati rice and garlic naan for serving
* fresh cilantro, for garnish
Layer half the spinach along the bottom of your slow cooker. Then add the onions through the chili powder. Add a big pinch of salt and pepper. Then press down the other half of the spinach on top of everything. It will practically be falling out everywhere. Press the lid down. Press it good, y’all.
Now turn the slow cooker on to low and let it simmer for 3 hours. Check on it a couple of times and give it a stir. After three hours, take an immersion blender and blend the saag until smooth. I miiiight have blended mine a little too much. I think it’s because I forgot to take the trash out.
* quick note – if you don’t have an immersion blender, just p0ur the saag into a blender, batch by batch and get her smooth. end note *
Then let it simmer another two hours.
THEN, sear your steak cubes in a large skillet until nice and browned on both sides. Season them with salt with pepper. Transfer the steak to the slow cooker for the last hour of slow cookering. (for a total of 6 hours)
Taste it. OMG. Need more salt? You know what to do.
Serve beef saag over a bed of cooked white (basmati or jasmine) rice and some torn toasted garlic naan! And oh! Some good cilantro! And oh! Maybe some fresh lime juice if you want to wake it up a little.
And oh! I’m just kidding.
Raag out with your saag out.
Girl, this is a tough one to style ~ but you did a brilliant job! Love me a good saag. (wait that sounded a little dirty didn’t it?!)
This looks surprisingly amazing! I love garlic naan too!
I do love saag (though I usually go for lamb) and I think this crock pot version will hit the spot. Have you ever frozen it (just the cooked spinach version – wouldn’t need to freeze the meet if you’re adding it later). Also, with 5 serranos, what was the heat level like and what spice level do you usually order when you dine out for Indian food? Thanks for sharing!
I trust you know I meant “meat” and not “meet”.
I got ya! Actually, when I order out I go with medium, because I feel like restaurants tend to lean a little hot. And I LOVE heat, but if I ordered hot then my face would erupt into lava. And honestly, this isn’t that hot, even with 5 serranos. Everything gets so blended, it’s pretty subtle. But you can always go with 3 peppers!
Let me know how it works fer ya.
Thanks, Bev! I like hot too, so just wanted to make sure if I was making this to share it wouldn’t be too much.
You never cease to amaze me, Bev! I love Indian food and my go-to order is chicken tikka masala, and, of course, GARLIC NAAN (2 orders, minimum).
You make saag look good!
I’ve been trying to make more Indian food at home. This certainly looks like a winner. Thanks
Dang, no wonder why Indian food is so good, an entire head of garlic? I think I’m in love. You need to sneak a Paneer in on that husband of yours. Serious! Paneer is good!
Oooooh – this is sooo bookmarked. I have a serious *curry habit* and this will feed it :0D
Indian Food is one of me and my boyfriends “things” too, and he also loves chicken tikka masala. How romantic are we all, devouring our plates full of red and green goop and sloppily dipping naan in it….
nate would freak if i made this – he is NOT a fan of indian food! – but i don’t even care. nope, more for me!
Ha – somehow you made saag look lovely! Looks delish!!
You made a great job ,despite not being a big fan of Indian food you made me drool.
You make saag look sexy!
At first I though I was reading it wrong and then I re-read it and realized you really meant saag! Wow! Amazing job.. Looks just like we make it at home
Even if it looks a little scary- its sounds amazing!! I love Indian food.
By the way, should I read that book?
YES. Yes you should. If you love murder, failed marriages and drama, like me. Then yeah.
YES.
Um, this is so amazing, there are no words. I want to throw my already made dinner out and eat this instead!
I have NEVER had Saag before! Is it because I am from the South and we have no Indian restaurants in my city??? Hmmmm….
Looks good!
Just curious, how big of a crockpot are you working with? I’m making this right now and I halved the recipe, but I seriously don’t think I could have made it all fit if it were doubled…and my crockpot is pretty big. (do all your readers say that?)
OMG, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write you back! Did the saag work? I just looked at my crock pot and I dunno! It’s big, but not THAT big. But not too tiny. It’s just a regular size.
Is this answer getting uncomfortable?
Let me know what you thought!
I love Indian food, how do I not know what saag is? Need to have this in my life soon!
I just made this and it turned out SO bitter! What happened?! Burned spices? Seeds from the tomatoes? Help me out here! I added a can of coconut milk and some lime juice to try to balance it out but it was still so bitter that I had to throw it out! The beef was also tough, so I would put it in for longer than 1 hr next time.
Oh nooooo, really!? Bitter. That sucks. I’m trying to think what maybe went wrong. I am SO sorry! Thank you for letting me know. I’m heartbroken! I’ll be thinking on what to do next time!
Have just done step one and blitzed it all up. Crickey, I think I was a bit heavy handed witht the spices.
Can I tone it down with anything while it’s cooking away?? Love the flavour, but perhaps not the heat. Help please
Oh no! It’s just too hot for you? I’ve heard that a little cream added would help cut the heat. I’m just now reading this comment, most likely hours later. I’m so sorry! What did you end up doing?
No worries. I think I was just a little heavy handed with the spices. Delicious flavour though. I bought a tub on plain yoghurt and served it with that. My Husband didn’t need it, but I did. Tasted divine! Definately a “make again” dish. Thanks!!