Palak Pulao/Spinach Rice

Palak Pulao/Spinach Rice

 There are various methods to prepare palak rice. But this is a unique recipe with flavours of fennel seeds, black cardamom. It is a one pot meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup basmati rice
• 2 bunch palak/spinach
• 3 table spoon cashew nuts
• 2 onions cut lengthwise
• 3 tea spoon sugar
• 3 tomatoes, remove the seeds and cut lengthwise
• salt to taste
• 2 table spoon oil

For paste:

• 1 inch ginger
• 8 green chillies
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 tea spoon fennel seeds/saunf/badishep
• 4 badi elaichi/black cardamom
• 4 cloves/laung/lavang

Method:

Wash and soak the rice and keep aside.

Wash and clean palak/spinach and grind with a bit of water into a puree. It makes around 1 1/2 cups of palak puree.Keep aside.

Grind ginger, garlic, cloves, fennel seeds and  black cardamom into a fine paste and keep aside.

Heat oil in a vessel, add onions and cashew nuts fry till they become golden brown. Now add the ground paste and fry for 2 minutes. Then add the washed rice and saute for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile in 1 1/2 cups palak puree add  2 3/4  cups of water and boil.

Once the rice is sauteed add in hot palak water, salt and sugar.

When it starts boiling add tomato pieces, cover and cook till the rice is done.

Serve hot with raita.

Note: In today's recipe I have not added any vegetables but you can add all types of vegetables to it like carrot, beans, potato, cauliflower and peas, fry them along with the onion and rest of the method remains the same.