Monday, January 31, 2011

Spinach rice (Keerai saatham)

Spinach and Asian food are inseparable. I am sure each Indian lunch box can tell a different recipe for this humble spinach. I mix rice and the spinach to make a kind of 'variety rice'.  I like this recipe very much because of its simplicity and lesser time consumption.  Here goes the recipe.

Keerai saatham served with cauliflower  stir fry.

Ingredients:
Rice - 3/4 cup
Any greens / Spinach - 1 small bunch.
(Any keerai like thandu keerai, mulai keerai, muringa keerai, pasali keerai,ponnan kanni keerai, arakeerai, sirukeerai etc)
Green chilly - 2
onion - 1/2 cup
garlic - 2 cloves
cumin - 1/2 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional)
mustard - 1/2 tsp
sesame oil - 1 tsp
ghee - 1/2 tsp (optional)
salt - to taste

Rice:
Take the rice lesser than we normally consume, as the spinach makes a good filler in this recipe.
Bring to boil some 3 cups of water. Wash and add the rice to the boiling water. Put a pinch of salt and reduce the flame. Let it cook. After the rice gets cooked, strain and remove the water.
Keep the cooked rice aside. We can cook the rice in pressure cooker or rice cooker also. But I prefer the above method to prepare any 'variety rice', as it will yield very separate grains.

Method:
Carefully clean the greens and put them in a broad vessel. Wash thrice or more times to remove all dirt. Drain water and chop finely.
Heat oil in a wok. Let the mustard crackle. Then add the chopped onion, chilly, garlic and fry till the onion becomes soft.
Then add the finely chopped greens and stir fry. Don't close the vessel. Sprinkle a little water if necessary. After it gets cooked and almost dry (in 5 minutes), Switch off, add the salt, shredded coconut and cumin seeds. Mix this with the cooked rice along with a tsp of ghee.
Mix well and serve.

Serving suggestion:
This can be prepared for lunch box. Don't add coconut during hot weather in packed foods.
Serve with any spicy side dish like brinjal fry or cauliflower fry.
Serves 2.

18 comments:

Lifewithspices said...

Gud one will def try this ..

http://scribbler-scribblings.blogspot.com/

Suja Manoj said...

Healthy and delicious rice,looks so inviting.

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Very comforting and healthy food...

Padma said...

Healthy and delicious rice.

Priya Suresh said...

Such a healthy and yummy rice,love it..

Sumi said...

great recipe, never made spinach like this other than paruppu keerai.Gonna make it for lunch box tomorrow

Sumi said...

great recipe, never made spinach like this other than paruppu keerai.Gonna make it for lunch box tomorrow

Swathi said...

Spinach rice looks delicious Viki. i have friend she used to make it more often. love them.

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Spinach with Rice looks to be as a wonderful and healthy combination. Looks delicious.

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Aruna Manikandan said...

healthy delicious rice :)

Ambreen (Simply Sweet n Savory) said...

Looks wonderful! Healthy & nice flavor combination!

Sushma Mallya said...

looks delicious,i usually do it in a different way...loved your version too...

Santosh Bangar said...

tempting and new to me .healthy rice

Nandinis food said...

The rice looks very healthy and nutritious. Very nice.

Panchpakwan said...

Delicious and healhty rice.

Umm Mymoonah said...

Healthy and delicious rice.

Anita said...

I am a big time eggplant lover, this dish looks so yummy.. Very nicely done..

Jaleela Kamal said...

வாவ் அருமை

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