Coconut Saag

This is the first nyt recipe I've ever commented on, I'm that taken aback by how good this turned out. After reading other's comments, I dry toasted the coriander seeds and cardamom seeds and then ground them in a spice grinder, before cooking them with the onions in the oil. I also added a hint of chili powder and turmeric to the onions. If using store bought paneer, I'd recommend soaking the cut pieces in warm water while cooking the rest of the recipe - makes it much softer!

I plan to make this with mature spinach, maybe even frozen, as I find cooked baby spinach has less flavor - it is great raw in salads etc. but not as lush as the older versions when cooked. Age is sometimes a good thing. ;0)

I make this all the time as a riff on Hawaiian squid / chicken lu’au. You’re better off using a few boxes of frozen spinach and squeezing all the water out with a cloth or paper towel and giving it a coarse chop. If you use fresh spinach you’ll need a boatload and will be waiting forever for all that liquid to reduce.

I used a pound of mustard greens, and the bitterness overwhelmed my palette. And my kids definitely wouldn’t touch it. I plan to make again with spinach, which I think will taste much better! Another tip: Spring for high-quality Asian coconut milk, Chaokoh brand if you can find it. This recipe deserves better than Trader Joe’s brand.

If using green cardamon pods, shouldn't the seeds inside be removed and ground first?

I made this with 400g kale and 100g arugula, and a 500g block of firm tofu with great results. I used 50/50 regular coconut milk and light coconut milk. I added about a tsp of garam masala at the end. One thing I would adjust next time is to use ground cumin in the coconut oil in step 4 instead of whole seeds because I found their texture to be a little off-putting in the final dish.

The whole family enjoyed this dish. I made it almost exactly per the recipe, but skimped on the fresh pepper, taking out the membrane and seeds of a homegrown red habañero. We ended up adding more red pepper spice at the end, however, to make up for it, so I would suggest following the recipe exactly. A little extra salt as we ate helped bring out the flavor, too. I will definitely make this again. Thank you, Priya, for this lovely dish - one of my first forays into northern Indian cuisine.

Delicious! I crushed the coriander seeds before toasting and used swiss chard and sorrel. The lemony taste in the sorrel was a delicious complement. Because I crushed the seeds an immersion blender was just fine. Also I was out of whole cumin seeds and used ground cumin for the finishing oil and it was still delicious (plus I hate chewing on whole cumin seeds). Will make again and again!

Tasty variation! I doubled it and used frozen spinach instead of mustard greens.(Two 32 oz baga since each bag was about 12 cups). Might grind coriander seeds next time and use more salt. For cheese I used Mexican panela, which is a decent substitute for paneer. Though it melts a bit more easily it's still pretty dense. And usually easy to find in most grocery stores, plus relatively inexpensive.

absolutely delicious made as is. for those who are asking about the coriander and cardamom, you are going to pulverize them when you blend the greens, onions etc. so no need to pre-grind. I lightly crushed with a heavy chef's knife both the seeds and the whole cardamom pods before toasting.

Delicious! I made this as written, with the exception of only .75 lbs of mustard greens (why Whole Foods doesn't bundle them in standard weights despite charging per bunch... I digress). I added the coconut milk to the Vitamix when I blended, and that helped to capture and blend everything. Like Priya's Saag Feta, I found this could support a bit more tofu/feta, so next time I may up to 24oz of tofu to stretch the recipe a bit further. All the same, yum! Thanks Priya!

I made this. It tasted like tree bark. There were was too much coriander seed. I would suggest crushing it prior to adding onions and using olny one tablespoon. I used kale and took out the ribs. There wasn't enough liquid to blend the greens mixture. I love NYT recipes, but this one is not for me!

I really wanted this to work because I love the saag feta recipe. I used mustard greens and it did not work: flavors didn’t meld together with the coconut and the texture was weird. I followed the recipe to a T.

Made this pretty much as written (used 3 bunches of whole spinach). Nice flavor. Not terribly time consuming to make. I used an immersion blender, but would use regular blender next time - spices had too much of a woody texture for my preference. Or I’d grind the spices finely before beginning.

Grind the coriander for a less chewy result. Took the seed out of the serrano - could have left them in.