A really simple spinach curry sauce recipe that’s ideal for kids. This vegetarian curry sauce is really easy to make and you can add whatever fillings you and your kids like – mixed vegetables, potatoes and lentils all work well.
We enjoyed this spinach curry sauce this this week with potatoes, carrots and peas and two out of three kids had a clean plate. And the third (the eldest of course, who usually likes *tolerates* peas) only left the peas so I was over the moon!
I have a mini-internal battle every time I hide vegetables in something – part of me thinks that I shouldn’t be doing this any more and that kids need to get used to seeing vegetables on their plate – but spinach is a pretty challenging vegetable for kids (for my kids anyway). Even Baby S, who pretty much eats everything at the moment struggles with leafy green things. So adding a portion and blending it in means that they get all the goodness without any of the drama. It does leave green flecks throughout the sauce – but amazingly they haven’t asked why. I suspect they think that it’s herbs.
Spinach is good for you because it contains lots of fibre, iron and vitamin K amongst other vitamins. There’s more information about the nutritional benefits of spinach on the BBC Good Food website.
Anyway, saying that you could easily leave the spinach out of this recipe if you don’t have any to hand or if your kids won’t eat something with the dreaded green bits in it – I know R wouldn’t have eaten anything with green bits when he was 2. It’s still delicious without the spinach added in.
What is spinach curry?
Spinach curry is a vegetable based dish that is extremely popular in India. It’s often known as sag bhaji and is very green in colour. Let’s face it – my kids aren’t going to eat a bright green spinach curry.
Variations include the well known sag aloo (spinach and potato curry), sag paneer (spinach and cheese) and chana sag (chickpeas with spinach). They are all delicious. Spinach is also lovely stirred through a lentil curry such as this easy red lentil dal recipe.
In this recipe for an easy spinach curry sauce I’ve left it up to you to decide whether to blend the spinach in to the sauce or whether to leave them showing. You can also decide what vegetables to add to the curry. We always add potatoes and usually carrots, peas and sometimes cauliflower.
This recipe is based on one that I learnt from a man called Biem-Sen when I was travelling in India 14 years ago. How it can possibly be so long ago I have no idea but I must have made this sauce, or a version of it, hundreds, if not thousands, of times since then.
How to make easy spinach curry sauce for kids
Easy spinach curry sauce for kids
This easy spinach curry sauce recipe is a great one to make for kids. With a portion of hidden veg already included you simply add potatoes and your favourite veg for a great vegetarian dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- A heaped tsp cumin seeds
- 2 onions peeled and finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped
- A large thumb-sized piece of ginger chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp mixed dried herbs
- Chilli powder optional, to taste
- 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- Salt optional, to taste
- A large handful of spinach leaves washed and roughly shredded
Instructions
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Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the cumin seeds. Fry over a medium heat until they're starting to brown. Add the onion. Cook for a few minutes, stirring well, then turn the heat to low and cover for 10 minutes until softened. Stir halfway.
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Turn the heat back to medium, then add the garlic, ginger, herbs and spices. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer away for 15-20 minutes. This is a great dish to make in advance by the way because the flavours only get better with time - so make it in the afternoon for dinner, or the day before.
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Once the sauce has slightly thickened add the garam masala, salt (if using) and spinach leaves. Heat through until the spinach has wilted then blend the sauce using a stick blender. This last part isn't essential if you don't mind the spinach leaves showing.
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Serve with your favourite curry ingredients, rice and/or bread. I usually add 2 potatoes, chopped and boiled, 2 carrots, chopped and boiled and a large handful of peas.
This makes enough for dinner for two adults and three children, plus two kids tea sized portions to freeze.
If you like this you might like this aloo jeera – potato and cumin curry.
What’s your favourite curry for kids? What would you add to this sauce? I’d love to hear in the comments below!
Ooooh lovely easy curry recipe – bet it tastes fab! I am really lucky – my kids actually LIKE spinach!! I think it must be genetic – it’s their dad’s favourite vegetable. They even liked it back in weaning days – I used to do a nice mix of pureed sweet potato and spinach, which went down really well – crazy I know! I do have weird kids when it comes to eating – my son especially – he hates crisps but will happily wolf down brown rice, for example!
It always amazes me how different kids can be! Baby S already loves meat – just like his older siblings. Most disappointing for a vegetarian mum! Yet, his little friend whose parents are both meat eaters will only touch fruit and veg and his favourite thing to eat is beetroot! x
It sounds delicious! I have such picky kids but one of them will eat quite a few vegetables but no carbs and the other one doesn’t like vegetables but hates sauces so I find it so difficult to hide vegetables!
Oh my eldest went through a lengthy no sauce phase! It was impossible to get any goodness down him. Hopefully it’ll pass soon x