Sweet Peas & Spinach Curry (With Paneer)

Every now and then, we are lucky enough to come across pure food perfection. This sweet peas and spinach curry recipe is exactly that! Not only is it absolutely delicious, but it fits my personal criteria of perfect recipe:

1. Delicious
2. Quick to make
3. Minimalistic
4. Nutritious + filling

That’s exactly why I often find myself making this recipe. It’s that good! And if you’ve been part of The Nutrinut community for a while, you know I very rarely like to repeat recipes. So that’s saying something.

I first came across this amazing green curry dish in the Deliciously Ella app. I love her work because it always inspires me to test out different ways of preparing simple ingredients. One day, I was scrolling through the app and remember being fascinated with the idea of blending sweet peas, spinach, and coconut milk to make a vibrantly green stew.

It’s just one of those recipes that you hope with all your heart that you have enough leftover to have on the next day and the after – where you arrive to lunch with pure excitement because you know that the menu will knock your socks off!

The Nutrinut Seal Of Approval

It’s a given that a good recipe has to taste delicious. Or it’s just not really worth it in my opinion. But sometimes delicious can come with a price – like an expensive and long list of ingredients or complicated and lengthy steps. There’s nothing that turns me off more about cooking than spending long and exhausting hours in the kitchen. Luckily for us, this is not the case here. Because I love simple.

When cooking, I also look into food from a nutritionist point-of-view. Is it balanced? What tweaks can be made to make this dish more filling and nutritious? If you are embracing a more plant-based way of eating, thinking outside the box makes all the difference. To make sure you’re properly swapping out the meat from the plate.

What I really appreciate about this sweet pea spinach curry is that with the main ingredient being sweet peas, you’re getting a good amount of protein and iron which you typically get from meat. And there’s the added bonus of fiber along with other vitamins and minerals.

Spinach is another very nutrient dense ingredient that will give this dish a nice boost. And the fat from the coconut milk will not only add a delicious creamy texture, but also help the body better absorb fat soluble nutrients. Fat is also really important for us to feel satisfied and full after a meal.

I think that we are officially ready to dive into our recipe and start cooking, don’t you think?

Sweet Peas & Spinach Curry Ingredients

This is what you’ll need to make the curry cream:

• A bag of frozen sweet peas (mine was 10 oz / 284 g)
• Frozen spinach (1 cup)
• Coconut milk (1 can)
• 1 onion (diced)
• Garlic (as much as your little heart desires)
• Spices: 2 TBSP curry powder + 1 TBSP garlic powder
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste
• Olive oil

Now, you might have noticed that there are white little cubes in the curry cream. To give the curry a bit of extra protein and texture, I added 1 block of PANEER – it’s a type of curd cheese typically used in Indian cuisine. I know this one is not that easy to find, so feel free to swap it out for tofu. Some other delicious combinations include: chickpeas or roasted baby potatoes.

How To Make It?

Once you’ve separated all of your ingredients, the recipe is pretty straight forward and low maintenance. The first step is to cook the diced onions and garlic until they soften. You can tell that your onions are cooked because they turn a more translucent color.

Although it’s tempting to not take this step that seriously, raw onions and garlic have a VERY different taste than cooked. It’s not a bad flavor, but it is quite potent. Raw onions + garlic not only highjack the taste of the entire dish, but it also leaves us with a delightful breath. And yes, the delightful part is sarcasm ;).

Once the onions and garlic are cooked, add to the pan the sweet peas, spinach, coconut milk, spices, and salt. Give everything a stir and cook in medium-low heat with a lid for about 10 minutes. You could in theory just blend everything without letting the ingredients simmer for these minutes. But I promise you that when it comes to flavor, it will make all the difference since heat and time allow the ingredients to come together and be transformed.

Now to the fun part, let’s blend it. I like to use a hand blender for a very lazy (or practical) reason – the clean up is a lot easier. I’m all for having less dishes to wash after. And blenders along with food processors are at the top of my “not fun to wash” list.

You’re done and it’s time to sit back and savor your masterpiece! I typically have my sweet peas spinach curry with rice or quinoa. But you can even have a little fun and make this your spaghetti sauce or have it with some toast/bread. In the kitchen, there’s not right or wrong. It’s about making it your own.

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this recipe. I know you’ll fall in love with this one too!

Also, if plant-based is your jam, make sure to check out Deliciously Uncomplicated – my online course all about making plant-based simple, delicious, and balanced! It’s a match made in heaven between balanced nutrition and amazing enjoyable food made with simplicity. You can learn more about Deliciously Uncomplicated right HERE.

Love,

Raisa, The Nutrinut

NOTE: Not all leftovers or reheated dishes taste that great the following day. That’s not the case here. This Sweet Peas and Spinach Curry tastes just as amazing (if not better) the next day. So if you are into meal prepping and don’t mind repeating dishes, this is a keeper.