As a child, Popeye sailor man was one of my favourite cartoons. Watching him obsess over spinach did become a great advocate for making me eat spinach. However, it was also my mum’s innovative spinach recipes that made this superfood edible.
During my easter break MasterChef marathons, I got imaginative and tried making this easy to cook ‘spinach pulao’.
This 10-step recipe takes less than 45 minutes, and you can add it as a meal prep option. The ingredient proportion is for abour 3-4 people and you can modify it according to your preferences.
1– Get the veges and rice ready. The best thing about pulao is that you can blend any vegetables you want with it as the spices add the taste and make it delicious. I usually go for 2 carrots, half a cup of cauliflower, 2 medium sized potatoes and sometimes even peas. Adding cottage cheese from Tesco adds that restaurant feel.
2 – Start cooking your rice. I prefer to use the same amount of rice as my vegetables. With the amount of veges I mentioned above, I take about 2 cups of rice.
3- Peel your veges (carrot, potatoes, cauliflower) , cut them in small pieces and boil them for a while until they soften a bit. Keep checking on the vegetables because you don’t want them to be too soft or they will lose their shape.
4 – Now the most important ingredient – spinach. Wash it up and put them in a bowel of boiled water for 2 minutes. Then put them in cold water after that.
5- In a pan, put oil and cumin seeds in. Add finely chopped green chili, garlic ( 2 cloves) and onions (1 medium size) with it.
Optional – add 1 bay leaf, 2 star anise and 2 cardamons.When the onions look fried and slightly brown, add 1.5 teaspoon of chili, 2 teaspoon of coriander, half spoon of garam masala and 1 spoon of turmeric. Add salt as needed.
6- Stir it well and later take it off the gas to let it cool. In the mean time, check on your rice and vegetables.
7- After the onion spice mixture is cooled add to a mixer with spinach. This will end up looking like a green puree.
8- Once your vegetables are boiled, drain them and put them in the same pan you used to make the onion spice mixture. You can add more spices to these boiled vegetables as well but be careful you don’t want to go overboard
9- Add your green puree to the pan and mix it well. You can taste the puree and see if more spices like salt or red chilli needs to be added.
10- When you think your puree tastes good, add the rice and mix it well.
There you go ! That is your spinach puree. You can add garlic bread or salad next to this dish and it would taste amazing. I personally like to use sweet chili sauce with this dish!
This leafy vegetable is filled with loads of nutrients and helps us maintain our blood sugar, bone health and even reduces our risk of developing cancer. So, try making spinach a must-have in your diet!