Spinach Rice or Palak Pulao

My love affair with Spinach might be too obvious by now, if you have been following my blog.I already have a couple more dishes with spinach in my kitchen notes waiting to make it to the blog.

This spinach rice is a very easy one pot meal and is high in iron, since it has a lot of Spinach in it.

A healthier version of it is replacing white rice with brown rice.I made this in rice cooker with minimal preparation effort. Pressure cooker will do an equally good job too.

Palak Pulao

RECIPE:

Serves 3-4 ppl.

Ingredients :

Basmati Rice - 2 Cups

Water - 4 Cups

Spinach - 2 Cups (Tightly Packed, Coarsely Cut)

Mint - 3/4 Cup

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Tbsp.

Butter / Ghee - 2 Tbsp.

Onion - 1 Large

Cilantro / Coriander leaves - 1/4 Cup.

Green chili - 2 to 3.

turmeric - 1 tsp.

Salt - to taste.

Lemon - 1

Seasoning

Cashews - 4 to 5 (Optional)

Fennel Seeds - few

Cloves - 2

Bay Leaf - 1

Cinnamon - 1 small.

cardamom - 1 pod.

Preparation :

Time taken - 10 min.

1. Chop the Onions finely.

2. Chop the Spinach , mint, coriander coarsely and grind them in to a fine puree with the green chili.

3. Add a Tbsp. of ghee, fry the basmati rice till nice aroma comes and soak the rice in water for half an hour.

Method :

Cooking Time - 20-25 min.

1. In a pan, add the ghee and add the items under seasoning. Once they turn golden brown in color,

add the onions and the ginger / garlic paste. Cook till the Onions turn brown.

2. Add the Spinach mint puree to this , add salt and turmeric and cook for 5 min.

3. When the spinach is cooked , add the rice and cook for two more min.

4. Transfer the contents to a rice cooker and add the water.

5. Add more salt if required, the water at this point should be slightly salty.

6. Cover the cooker with the lid.

7. Squeeze a lemon on it once its done , this aids in the absorption of iron.

Serve the Spinach rice hot with curd/raita.

Notes :

If you want to make the rice richer, soak almonds / cashews and add it while making the puree.

#maincourse