Aloo Palak (Spicy Spinach and Potatoes)  Recipe (2024)

So you left out the pepper flakes and then complain that it's bland?

I made this as is but did not use the pepper flakes. It was pretty good. I have cooked Indian food quite a bit and when reading the recipe, I thought that the spicing was a bit timid, and it is. Also, it was salty for me. I'm not sure whether I would make it again since it was a bit bland.

You left out the chilis and diluted the mixture further with extra tomatoes and then called it bland. I just don't understand people who change a recipe and then claim it didn't work.

Really love the initial tomato sauce. Super tasty. Should parboil the potatoes first. Throw in a little cream to make it super awesome. Threw in chick peas. That worked.

Don't use Yukon gold potatoes. I don't know why the NYT recommends these for every recipe, it's like the kosher salt and the sheet pans, or never using soap on a cast iron pan. Seems like a certain mythology has developed. Use a starchy potato, like a russet. Better to hold it together. In India, "spinach" is not the same as the West (lots of different spinaches in India) but you can use whatever is local. Cool the spinach with ice and it will stay green. And at least a tb of garam masala!

Added chickpeas for some protein, and therefore upped the non-spicy spices, but reduced the chiles and pepper flakes for the sake of kids. Crazy delicious. Yum!! Also, a tasty use for frozen spinach, which I often don’t like the texture of.

Subbed 1 finely chopped jalapeño in place of Thai peppers since they didn't have any at grocery. Used 4 medium Yukon gold potatoes with skin on. Overall, very flavorful. I think I will up the cumin and Kashmiri chili pepper a bit next time. I used fresh Roma tomatoes.

Delicious and satisfying to make. My final product was less soupy than the picture above, as others have noted. Cut the potatoes into smaller pieces 1/2" cubes since other folks mentioned they'd wished they had parboiled or needed to cook the potatoes for longer than the recipe suggested. Based on what we had in the house we used a mix of frozen spinach and frozen kale, and ground cumin instead of cumin seeds, both of which seemed to work totally fine

Why is the frozen spinach “unthawed”? Counterintuitive.

Made pretty much according to the directions. Son, his wife and my wife came back for seconds. Definitely give it a try if you like potatoes and spinach.

It says the spinach is "unthawed." So, I should put the block of frozen spinach straight into the pan?

You'll get a ton of water that way. You can just put it on low heat, thaw completely & then cool it back off with ice to preserve the color, drain.

How much do 3 Yukon potatoes weigh? They are not typically sold in my country so figuring out what potato to use and the amount is a challenge. NYT Cooking, give those of us outside the U.S. a helping hand.

Could use more ginger. Would be delicious served with naan, raita and mint cilantro chutney.

Adding a can of chickpeas was a good way to extend this dish, but I needed to triple the water and double the tomato & aromatics to provide enough depth of flavor and liquid for the simmer.

Cooked according to the recipe, and it is definitely flavorful. For my palate, it was way too spicy. A dab of Greek yogurt helped to temper it a bit. I’d use less chili on a subsequent cook.

Delicious with eggplant too!

The potatoes took much much longer than 12 minutes to cook, and I cut them smaller than 1 inch cubes. I’d wait at least 30 minutes.

Great stuff! Made with a bag of small Yukon potatoes cut in half. Added chickpeas and their water and another 1/4-1/2 cup of water. Used 2 jalapeños, 1 Serrano and a dried New Mexico chilie. Great spice for us.

Tastes like an Americanized version of an Indian dish. Needs more spices (not hotness, just more flavor). Might benefit from blooming the spices in oil at the start as many traditional dishes do. Lots of potential here, but doesn't quite get there.

Don’t know what I did wrong but my potatoes have had to cook for an additional 20 minutes and still aren’t done (I cut 1/2 inch cubes too)

I used a pound of baby spinach which seemed to work quite well, although it seemed the traditional way was to use the full-grown leaves chopped for more texture. The spices make for a tasty meal and some basmati rice with saffron goes quite well with this.

I doubled spices per some of the comments that it was bland. I think its way too spiced now. Next time I will just follow the recipe before tweaking it. Be careful!

1. FOR SURE, parboil the potatoes until nearly soft2. FRY the onions until SOFT3. If using frozen spinach, thaw it and squeeze it out, otherwise dish will end up watery

slightly bland, had to use significantly more seasoning than recommended

I am adding more vegan dishes to the rotation and this one was great! I used canola oil. I used about 15 oz of crushed tomatoes. I tripled the spices except for the red pepper which I kept at 1tsp. I used 2 jalapeno peppers, no Thai pepper (couldn't find). 15 oz crushed tomatoes. I added 3/4 cup brown lentils and used Yukon Gold potatoes. I used about 3.25 cups of water. I added the lentils when I added the potatoes and it took about 30min to cook, plus rest time... YUMMY!

How much do 3 Yukon potatoes weigh? They are not typically sold in my country so figuring out what potato to use and the amount is a challenge. NYT Cooking, give those of us outside the U.S. a helping hand.

Overall a great start into indian food. The seasonings seem to be out of whack though. A teaspoons worth of each seasoning for a whole dish?? I tripled the amount of each seasoning and it was still a bit bland. It's definitely the closest I've found to the real thing though

Oh my - delicious. And with a fried egg on top.....no words!