Indian · Authentic-ish Indian
Saag Aloo
188 kcal a serving, against 361 for the traditional version. That is 173 kcal off, or 48%, with 7.9g of protein. Serves 4. 45 minutes.
What the traditional version is
A heavy, rich side dish where cubes of potato are deep-fried in hot ghee until golden, then folded into a thick, heavily spiced spinach puree.
What changed, and what each change costs
80g of ghee for 15g of ghee and a blast in a hot oven
Deep-frying potatoes in clarified butter makes them taste absolutely incredible, but it turns a humble vegetable dish into a massive fat sink. I parboil the potatoes and roast them with a tightly measured spoon of oil instead. You'll still get the crucial crispy edges, and the high heat of the oven does the heavy lifting.
What it costs you. You lose the intense, buttery richness that a pan of ghee brings. The potatoes are slightly drier straight out of the oven than they would be fresh from a deep fryer, but the wet spinach sauce balances that out the second you've mixed them together.
600g of potato and 400g of spinach for 400g of potato and 600g of spinach
Potatoes are brilliant, but they are heavy on starch. By flipping the ratio entirely on its head, you get a much greener dish that relies on the iron-rich spinach for bulk. The spinach cooks down significantly, concentrating its flavour and providing a huge volume of food.
What it costs you. A fiercely green vegetable curry that tastes strongly of spinach, then. Not a starchy comfort blanket of a dish anymore, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. You get far fewer crispy potato nuggets per portion, which means you have to savour the ones you do get.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 361 | 188 |
| Protein | 7.5g | 7.9g |
| Fat | 21.4g | 5.3g |
| Saturated fat | 12.2g | 2.5g |
| Carbohydrate | 37.9g | 31g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 2.1g | 4.2g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Indian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk, mustard.
The method is in the book
You'll still get the sharp, earthy spices and the highly satisfying bite of a roasted potato, but the sheer volume of spinach makes it a vastly better choice for a Tuesday night. Flipping the ratio and ditching the deep fryer cuts the heavy fat right down while keeping the vibrant soul of the dish totally intact.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Indian, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback