Palak Pulao (Rice with Spinach)

This is a nice simple pulao that comes together quickly with just a few ingredients and allows you to boost the vegetable content of your meal a little bit. I thought it would make a nice substrate for the mutter paneer we had for dinner last night. The curry already had peas in it, but it felt like we could still use some more veg. This worked quite well. Especially when served along with some vegetable-stuffed paratha.

The original recipe was written for white basmati rice and had you cooking the rice in the pot with the spinach and onion mixture. I had some leftover long-grain brown rice that I wanted to use up, so I adjusted the recipe slightly to use that. I also omitted the salt and swapped out the fresh spinach for frozen.

Palak Pulao

Adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. cooked long-grain brown rice
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 small red onion, sliced thin
• 1 1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt (optional)

Directions

1. Heat ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
3. Add onion, reduce heat to medium, and cook for a minute or two.
4. Add spinach and continue cooking until spinach is fully thawed.
5. Stir in rice, water, and salt (if using) and cook until heated through.
6. Serve topped with your favourite curry!