A chef at IHM taught me a ratio I have never forgotten. He was not teaching palak aloo specifically. He was teaching ratios — the idea that a recipe is just a ratio in disguise, and once you know the ratio, you do not need the recipe.
The ratio he gave me was for a green masala base: four parts spinach, two parts coriander, one part mint, half a part green chilli. That is it. No quantities. No grams. Just the relationship between the ingredients.
Chef Sendhil's ratio
He said: once you know this ratio, you can make this base for one person or fifty. You can adjust the heat by changing the chilli. You can make it more herbal by pulling back the spinach. You are not following a recipe. You are working with a principle.
I built the palak aloo on that principle. Not the hotel version with blanched spinach and cream. Not the restaurant version that arrives bright green and tastes of nothing in particular. The version where you wilt everything down together in the same pan, where the spinach still has some character when it hits the plate, where the potato absorbs rather than sits in the sauce.
The recipe
This makes enough for two people eating properly, or three people eating politely.
What you need
400g fresh spinach (the ratio starts here). 200g waxy potatoes — boiled until just done, not falling apart. 100g fresh coriander, stems included. 50g fresh mint, leaves only. 25g green chilli — adjust this based on what you can take. 1 medium onion, finely sliced. 4 cloves garlic. 1-inch ginger. Cumin seeds. Salt. A small amount of oil or ghee.
The process
Boil the potatoes first, cut into rough 2cm pieces once cool enough to handle. Set aside.
Blend the spinach, coriander, mint, and green chilli together with as little water as possible. You want a thick paste, not a liquid. This is where most people go wrong — too much water at this stage and you spend the next twenty minutes cooking it off, and the colour goes.
In a heavy pan: heat your oil or ghee, add cumin seeds and let them crackle. Add the onion and cook until soft and beginning to colour — do not rush this, it needs ten minutes at least. Add the garlic and ginger paste, cook for another two minutes.
Add the green paste. This is the moment where the kitchen smells like something is happening. Cook the paste on a medium flame, stirring regularly, for eight to ten minutes. You are cooking out the rawness of the coriander and the water from the spinach. When the paste starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and darken slightly, it is ready.
Add the potatoes. Fold them in gently — you want them coated, not mashed. Salt generously. A small splash of water if the mixture looks too dry. Cook covered on low heat for five minutes.
Finish with a small knob of ghee stirred through before serving. This is not optional.
The bachelor's note
If you are cooking this alone and do not want to deal with fresh herbs: frozen spinach works. Use 200g frozen spinach as your base, add a small bunch of coriander (50g), skip the mint if you do not have it. The ratio will be off but the principle will hold. It will still be better than most versions you will eat outside.
The reason this recipe exists on this site is not because it is complicated. It is because it is one of those recipes where the teaching is more useful than the dish. Once you understand a ratio, once you understand that the relationship between ingredients matters more than the quantity, you start cooking differently. You start improvising instead of following instructions.
That shift — from recipe-follower to ratio-thinker — is what Chef Sendhil was actually teaching. The palak aloo was just the vehicle.