Palak (Spinach) Chicken

This Indian chicken dish is very simple to make and full of flavors. For vegetarian version, just substitute chicken with mushrooms or tofu. I added saffron threads to jasmine rice and pan fried some paratha with butter. Both were good with palak chicken.

Ingredient

2 Tsp Oil

1 med Red Onion, sliced

850 grams bone-in Chicken Thigh

2 med soft Tomato, sliced

150 grams Spinach Leaves

2 whole green Chili

½ cup Water

¾ tsp Tumeric Powder

1 tsp Coriander Powder

1 tsp Cumin Powder

1 tsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Muster Powder

1 Tsp Ginger Paste

1 Tsp Garlic Paste

½ tsp Garam Masala Powder

Salt

Instruction

1. Clean chicken thoroughly and season with salt. Set Aside.
   

2. Prepare the spices needed. I actually used 3 chilis instead of 2, and red chilis instead of green chilis because I only had red chili in the fridge. The result was spicy but I enjoyed it. If you don't like spicy, keep to 2 chilis or just 1.
   

3. Turn heat on to med heat. Add oil to the bottom of a pot. Enough to coat the pot. Add chili to the pot and let it cook for a few seconds, then add onion and stir and let cook till onion turns brown and soft.
   

4. Once the onion turns brown, add chicken to the pot and turn heat up to med-high heat and let cook for 3 minutes. Leave the pot uncovered.
   

5. Stir the pot for a little bit then add in turmeric, coriander, cumin, chili powder, muster powder, salt, ginger, and garlic. Stir everything together. Make sure they are all well mixed.
   

6. Turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Let cook for 5 minutes.
   

7. After 5 minutes, uncover the pot to add tomato slices. Stir the tomatoes in, cover the pot and let cook for another 2 minutes to allow tomatoes release natural juice.
   

8. Remove the lid and add garam masala powder to the mixture and stir. Pour in water and stir some more. Cover the pot and let cook for 10 more minutes.
   

9. While waiting, wash and chop spinach. We are only using the leaves so chop off stems. You can keep the stems for breakfast omelet the next day or something else later. Once the leaves are ready, cut them into long strings.
   

10. 10 minutes later, uncover the pot and add spinach to the mixture and stir. Let it cook for another 5 minutes, taste if more salt is needed. If not, it's ready for plating!