Satisfying! (Lamb Saag)

You know how sometimes you just get those cravings? You can't even explain it - you're just in the mood for something. Sunday night when I got off the airplane, there was nothing that I wanted more than Lamb Saag (for anyone who's not already an Indian food fan - it's basically a spinach curry with chunks of lamb). But it was already past dinner. And then on Monday I was too tired to cook something new, etc. So here it is Wednesday lunch - and I finally get it. I stopped in for groceries last night (before having chocolate chip cookies and milk for 'dinner') and got everything that I thought I would need.

I've never made Lamb Saag before, but I asked my brother for a recipe - and got general guidance. And so I bought spinach and lamb (I already had onions, garlic, ginger and quinoa (the quinoa is not traditional - but I've just been using it as my primary grain recently and figured it would work with this too)).

And so today as lunch time rolled around, I started cooking. I first put a little salt and pepper on the lamb cubes (the butcher cut them for me, I would recommend smaller ones that I have here - I bought lamb medallions as that was the only option that was easily cube-able)

Then, I sauteed the onions, garlic and ginger. And added salt, pepper and curry powder (could add garam masala, if you happen to have it). Now, one of the secrets is to use plenty of ghee (but I didn't have any, and didn't have time to make it, so I used plenty of olive oil - it made it a little less creamy - I might try butter next time, or I might actually do the ghee thing).

After the onion mixture is ready, you can dump in the spinach (I did it in 2 batches) and let that cook (I took some advice from Elise's recent spinach post (which I saw last night and which only made me more determined to have this dish - soon!) and used the lid (I normally just cook spinach by moving it around a lot) which worked quite well - no problem adapting with all the onion at the base). Once the spinach is wilted (that's the picture I forgot to take) I then used my hand mixer thing (it's like a food processor on a stick), but you could use a food processor or blender, to chop the spinach mixture up.

I then mixed that in with the lamb and served it on a bed of quinoa. Absolutely delicious! (Though I think I will continue to play with the recipe as there is a lot of potential for variation and I'm curious as to what it can become).

Lamb Saag
Serves two (generously)

10 oz fresh spinach (washed and dried, you can substitute frozen if that's all you have)
1 lb lamb cubes (I used medallions, but anything cube-able is probably fine)
3 small onions (I like onions, so this could be reduced)
6-10 cloves of garlic (all spice measurements here are approximate and can be varied based on preferences)
1 Tablespoon of fresh ginger
2 Tablespoons curry powder
Salt
Pepper

1. Sautee onions, garlic and ginger. When onions are clear, add curry, salt and pepper (to taste).
2. Sear the lamb cubes in a hot pan so that you get that nice brown crust on the outside, but keep the inside pink (I like mine medium rare)
3. Add the spinach (I did it in 2 batches, 5 oz each) to the onion mixture. Stir and cover with lid. After a minute or so, flip or stir the mixture. Continue until cooked. Add the second batch of spinach. Repeat.
4. Puree the spinach and onion mixture.
5. Mix in the lamb.
6. Serve (I served on top of quinoa – 20 minutes to cook, start just before everything else) and Enjoy!