This delicious chana saag is a vegan dish that’s brimming with Indian flavors and loaded with greens (spinach & fenugreek leaves). It’s perfectly hearty and filling thanks to the protein-rich chickpeas.
If using dried chickpeas then rinse the chickpeas and soak them overnight or at least 8 hours in enough water. Discard the cooking water and cook the chickpeas in an instant pot for around 15 minutes. Check out the detailed post on instant pot chickpeas.
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
Add chopped onion, ginger garlic paste and green chili. Sprinkle some salt to speed up the cooking process. Mix and cook until the onion turns light brown in color.
Add and mix tomato puree and let it cook. In beginning, it may splutter a lot. So you can partially cover the pan. Do stir in between to make sure that it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook until most of the moisture evaporates and a slight oil is oozing out from the sides.
Add remaining salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder and coriander powder. Mix and cook for a minute.
Add boiled chickpeas, chopped fenugreek leaves and water. Mix and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Add chopped spinach. Mix and let it simmer for again 5 minutes.
Add garam masala and lemon juice. Mix and it is ready to serve.
Notes
Do not overcook the spinach. Once the spinach is added, do not cover and cook. Simmer it only for 5 minutes to keep the vibrant green color or the spinach intact.
How to reduce the bitterness of fenugreek leaves: Keep the washed methi leaves in a colander and sprinkle a pinch of salt and massage the leaves lightly. Keep it aside for 10 minutes. During this resting time, salt will release moisture from the leaves. Squeeze out the liquid from the leaves and then chop and use it in the chana saag recipe.
You can use frozen methi and spinach instead of fresh. If so reduce the amount as frozen ones are compacted compared to fresh leaves.
Try chana saag with other leafy greens like collard greens, mustard greens, swiss chard, etc. Cooktime should be adjusted if making with other greens that take longer time to cook compared to spinach.