I love one pot meals. The chance to have a complete meal without getting many dishes and pots and pans dirty is great! The children love spinach and have been asking me to make spinach rice for a while now. So I decided to make it last week. This is slightly different from the way I usually make it, so thought to document it here.

Spinach Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup spinach, washed and chopped
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 4-5 pods of garlic
• 1-1.5 inch ginger
• 1 large or 2 medium-sized onions
• 1 medium-sized green capsicum
• 4-6 green chillies (depending on the size and your spice tolerance)
• 1 bunch of coriander leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 4-5 cardamom pods
• 4-5 pieces of clove
• 2 inch piece of cinnamon
• 2-3 cashew nuts
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Wash the spinach thoroughly and keep aside.
• Wash the basmati rice well, soak it in water for 20-30 minutes and then drain and keep aside.
• In a dry skillet, dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon till they are done and emit and nice aroma. Keep aside to cool.
• Soak the cashew nuts in warm water or milk for 10 minutes to soften it up.
• Chop the onion, green capsicum, green chillies, ginger and garlic and keep aside.
• In a blender blend everything – the spinach, green capsicum, green chillies, coriander, onion, ginger, garlic, cashew nuts and spices to a smooth paste and keep aside.
• Heat a pan with the ghee and when the ghee warms up, add the bay leaf and stir for a couple of seconds.
• Then add the spinach paste and stir well. Season with salt and let it cook well, making sure it is still a vibrant green colour.
• Take the washed and drained rice and add to this paste. Transfer to a rice cooker and cook with 3/4 cup (or as you need for your rice) of water. Once cooked, let it sit for a while before you take it out of the cooker.
• Serve hot with some crisps and a raita of your choice.

Notes:

• If you are cooking in your stovetop when you add the rice to the spinach paste, let it mix for a minute, then add the water and any seasoning you want and cook covered on a low to medium flame till done. Let it sit for a while before opening the cover.
• You can also make the paste in advance and store it in the fridge or freeze it. When you want to make the rice the next day, just add it to the rice in the rice cooker or on the stovetop and continue as above.
• I didn’t have any coriander with me but had Green Chutney at home. So I substituted coriander with a couple of tbsps of this Chutney.