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Chard Saag Aloo

Feel free to experiment with the quantities of spices. I've cooked this dish so many times that I just eyeball the amount of turmeric, coriander, etc. If you want it spicier, add a dried chili, if not, omit.
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Ingredients
  

  • 3 waxy potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons light oil
  • 1 onion
  • 4-5 cloves garlic
  • 2-3 inch knob of ginger
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 cloves
  • seeds from 4 cardamom pods
  • 1 dried red chili (optional)
  • a few black peppercorns (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup tomato sauce or 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
  • 2 large bunches Swiss chard
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala

Instructions
 

  • Peel the potatoes, and cut into long quarters or eighths. Place the potatoes in a small saucepan and cover with water. Add salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer with the lid tilted at a diagonal until the potatoes are tender. Drain.
  • Meanwhile, slice the onion. Roughly chop the garlic. Slice the ginger into a few planks. Heat the oil in a large skillet with tall sides. Cook the sliced onions until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and cook about 2 minutes. Combine the spices in a spice grinder (I used an old coffee grinder). Pour the ground spices over the onion mixture and turn off the heat. Let the spices warm up 1-2 minutes in the skillet.
  • Then pour the spiced onion mixture into a blender. Add the tomato sauce or tomato paste and about a half cup of water. Blend until pureed. This creates a masala paste. Pour the paste back into the skillet. Add another 1/4 cup of water to the blender and pulse to get the rest of the paste clinging to the sides of the blender. Add to the skillet.
  • Chop the chard. I stack the chard leaves on top of each other, roll them up tightly, then slice the roll thinly, which is called a chiffonade technique. Then I chop crosswise across the green ribbons a few times to get a rough chop. Add the chopped chard to the skillet.
  • By this time, the potatoes should be done. Drain the potatoes then add them to the skillet. Stir, turn on the heat to medium, and cover with a lid. When starting to bubble, lower the heat to very low and let simmer about 20 minutes.
  • At this point, I made a pot of rice with the rice cooker, and when the rice is finished, the Saag Aloo is finished simmering too. Turn off the heat, sprinkle over a teaspoon of garam masala, stir, then taste for salt. Adjust for balance.
  • Serve alongside other curries or a dal, or just with rice. Enjoy.