The special midweek chicken and spinach curry offer a fabulous combination of a savoury, luscious, scary-delicious wholesome mix-matched meal cooked in plant-powered green spicy sauce. The perfectly cooked chicken in tomato tang and garlic sautéed spinach nestled into a creamy sheath of curry gives a perfectly clean slice of comfort food. The tender, juicy chicken pieces soaked up all in the flavours from spinach and spices are just splendid enough to elevate your spread to an imperial one.
Palak chicken curry recipe is a fantastic chicken curry cooked with blanched spinach and basic spices.
Taste, texture, nutrients and other details
Chicken and spinach curry - Saag Murgh or Palak Murgh is a classic Indo-Pakistani dish prepared with pureed fresh spinach cooked in spices and creamy yoghurt (or tomato soup). Spinach inherently releases a lot of moisture to coat the cooked chicken pieces. Yoghurt is used to marinate the pieces. One can prepare the recipe to get a thinner or thicker consistency as per their personal choices.
It is prepared with regional variations at the local eateries in the Indian subcontinent and offered as palak murgh, palak chicken, saag murgh, or saag chicken. In regional cuisine, sometimes, chicken is replaced with goat or lamb pieces but the cooking time doubles if meat pieces are added. Some local eateries prepare extra creamy palak chicken made with cashew cream or yoghurt, giving the recipe a creamy, velvety texture.
Indian local restaurants and roadside dhabas serve tender pieces of chicken and spinach curry leaves simmered in an onion-tomato gravy made with creamy cashew paste or yoghurt where the curry paste is habitually made with a blend of herbs like onion paste, ginger and garlic paste, green chillies, and pepper.
Onion, ginger, garlic, and tomato paste mixed with roasted (bhuna) & powdered herbs get the primary vegan spinach chicken curry Indian variation. Herbs like turmeric, coriander, red chilli powder, garam masala and grated nutmeg can be added to get an aromatic flavour. One can add other herbs like peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves and green cardamom to get an intense aroma. Palak chicken curry recipe works as a superb weekend dinner for the family parties if served with jeera rice (plain rice or zafrani pulao or peas' pulao) and salads.
Palak chicken curry recipe can be served with roti, parathas or pulao. It is served as a main dish with roti, or naan bread, or lachha paratha or boiled rice, sometimes, complemented with burani raita or kachumber salad.