Sluttishly Vegetarian: Mushroom Saag

My favourite dish on the Indian takeaway menu is always mushroom saag. I adore mushrooms, and they work so well with curry, but I'd never thought to make it myself. Until my friend offered to cook a lamb curry for me last week. He promised to take care of the main course, I said I'd whip up this tasty side dish.

The only problem being that I'd never made it before. And I decided to make it up as I went along. Luckily, after a bit of tweaking, it tasted fantastic. Just like it had come out of one of those little foil tins (that's a good thing, honestly). It's a little bit of trial and error, and we threw in a little of this and a little of that to get it just right (the tomato puree and lemon juice were late additions, but they really do work to add depth). It's a great little dish that takes minutes to prepare.

You'll need:

• Eight large mushrooms
• 2/3rds large bag of spinach
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced
• half an onion, sliced
• 1tbsp cumin
• 1tbsp ground coriander
• 1tsp chilli powder
• 1tsp turmeric
• very small cup of stock
  
• juice of half a lemon
• 1tbsp tomato puree

Make it!

Soften the mushrooms and onions in oil under a low heat. Add the garlic and spinach. When the spinach has wilted down slightly, grind the spices together and add to the pan with the stock. Reduce down, and add lemon juice and tomato puree, and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve in a bowl along side your main curry dish (or just naan breads if you fancy a light supper) and vow never to buy this from the Indian takeaway again.