I’ve wanted to make this Indian classic for a while, as I love the deep spinachy flavour of Sag Aloo. Nettles are abundant this time of year, and many are at their most tender, so it seemed perfectly natural to replace the spinach with chopped nettles. And it worked!
Make sure you wear gloves and take scissors to pick the nettles. Try not to grasp the stem as the hairs here are stronger and more likely to make their way through the gloves. Pick only the youngest leaves- I usually take the top of the plant off in one snip, then only pick the lower leaves if it is a very young plant. The colour and thickness of the stem is a fair indication of this- the thinner and lighter green the stem, the younger the plant!
Here’s what we did:
- Par boil potatoes chopped into small(ish) chunks. I did mine somewhere between 1.5cm and an inch…. I’m not too careful!
- Fry spices (I used cardamom seeds, cumin seeds, ground coriander, tumeric and asfoetida) in a little oil, then add potatoes to the pan and stir to coat.
- Meanwhile, boil/steam the nettles (I had to do this 4 or 5 times to work through the whole bag of nettles) and then drain them before adding them to the frying pan. I also chopped them roughly using a pair of scissors, just to avoid longer stems being stringy.
- Fry the whole lot, stirring gently to ensure the potatoes don’t crumble.
- Serve.
Yes, it really is that easy! Plus, with potatoes being insanely cheap and nettles being free, it’s a fantastic way to make a curry go further frugally!
Living Frugal 