recipe - spicy spinach and potatoes

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

 

 

I am very much a ‘play it by ear’ cook and I sometimes find it a bit

difficult to find recipes to post because I don’t usually remember to write

them down.

 

 

 

One of my favourite vegetables is baby spinach but my husband says it is far

too bitter for his taste. However he will eat it if I ‘mask’ the flavour

with spices. One day recently spinach was on special so I couldn’t resist

buying a large bag. Of course then I had to work out what to do with it so

I headed into the kitchen thinking ‘curry’. The results of my experiment

were rather delicious so I thought I would share them with you. It is

hardly grand enough to be called a recipe but here goes anyway.

 

 

 

Because I don’t like storing spinach (or any other fresh food for that

matter) for too long I decided to cook it all and I adapted the quantities

of the other ingredients to make a good balance. There are only two of us

but this quantity would easily be enough for 3 serves as a main course or at

least 4-6 as a side dish or part of a buffet.

 

 

 

SPICY SPINACH AND POTATOES (serves 3 as a main course, 4-6 as a side dish)

 

 

 

 

 

Approx 500 gram (1 lb) waxy potatoes – peeled, cubed and par-boiled

 

¾ - 1 Tbsp cooking oil

 

1 Tbsp curry powder – as mild or as strong as you like and you can adjust

the quantities if you like your curry hotter or milder

 

400 grams (14 oz) baby spinach leaves – well washed and shaken dry

 

300 grams (approximately 10 ounces) feta – cubed (I used sheep milk feta)

 

 

 

 

 

* Add the oil to a pan and, when it is warm but not too hot, add the

curry powder and cook for a minute to develop the flavours. Watch it

carefully so the curry powder doesn’t start to burn.

 

 

 

* When the curry is ready add the cubed potato and stir constantly to

coat the potato in the curry. Stir until the potato is cooked through and a

little crisp on the outside – it shouldn’t take more than about 3-4 minutes

because the potatoes have already been par-boiled.

 

 

 

* When the potatoes are cooked, add the cubed feta and stir quickly to

coat the cheese.

 

 

 

* Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the washed spinach with just

the water which is still clinging to it. The spinach will sweat and make

the dish a little bit moist so you don’t need to add any extra water. Stir

the spinach constantly to make sure that it cooks evenly and that the

spinach, cheese and potato are well mixed together.

 

 

 

* Cook for about 4 minutes or until the spinach is cooked but not

completely wilted. The spinach should remain as individual leaves.

 

 

 

* Serve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You could serve this with rice if you wanted to but the potato was

sufficient starch for us. I served it with some plain yoghurt, mango

chutney and pappadums. Because we are trying to be sensible with our intake

of fat I tend not to deep fry anything. I cook the pappadums by holding

them with tongs over a high gas flame until they start to blister. Move

them around a bit to make sure that they cook evenly. It takes literally

only a few seconds to do each one but you do have to be careful as they can

burn very easily. The texture and taste will not be the same as if you deep

fry them but they are surprisingly tasty cooked this way and contain MUCH

less fat. TIP – to avoid setting off your smoke alarm make sure that you

turn on your extractor fan and/or open a window while you are cooking the

pappadams.

 

 

 

If you have any questions about the recipe I am more than happy to receive

them. I have tried to write the process down as fully and clearly as

possible but it could very well be that I have omitted some detail which I

should have included.

 

 

 

Cheers from Marie in Haarlem, Netherlands