Palak Rice | Spinach Rice

Event: Sunday Funday
Theme: Rice
Recipe: Palak Rice | Spinach Rice
Palak Rice |Spinach Rice is a healthy, tasty and easy rice recipe. An excellent way to get the family to enjoy spinach. Add vegetables of your choice and make it into a meal with some plain yogurt, papad and pickle or salad on the side. I actually use up leftover rice to make this Indian style Spinach Rice.
Memories
This is one more recipe I learned from my kaki (aunt). She use to make this rice quite often. Don’t know if she makes it anymore. Perhaps, it was her way of getting the kids to eat spinach. To make it even appealing she would add grated cheddar cheese and serve it. After I got married I use to make this rice dish. Obviously, it was a way to get my kids to enjoy spinach without them knowing. The green rice is what excited them. Topped with cheese it was even more exciting for them.
Sunday Funday
By the way, Sunday Funday is a group of Food Bloggers. Every Sunday we share some fun, traditional, hearty or easy recipes to make Sunday Family Meals a bit more exciting. To join this fun group, visit the Sunday Funday Facebook Page. Request to join in.
Theme: Rice
The theme this week has been suggested by Sneha who blogs at Sneha’s Recipes. Her suggestion was to use any type of rice or rice flour to prepare a dish. Palak Rice or Spinach Rice is the one I chose to redo for this theme.
First Published on 24/05/2012, updated on 24/07/2022
Some Dishes Using Rice/ Rice Flour
Rice is a staple in India and a versatile recipe. Cook it on its own to enjoy with curries, dals, sabji. In addition, rice is used for pulaos, biryanis. Also rice flour, soaked rice is the main ingredient for the famous South Indian Dishes, dosa, idli. Every State in India uses rice in some form or the other. To celebrate auspicious days, kheer or rice pudding is a must. Besides rice and rice flour, puffed rice and flattened rice too are used widely.











Check Out Some Rice| Rice Flour Recipes By Fellow Members of Sunday Funday
Crawfish Fried Rice from Food Lust People Love
Insalata da Riso from Italian Rice Salad from Pandemonium Noshery
Instant Pot Chicken and Rice from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Palak Rice from Mayuri’s Jikoni
Pork Stir Fry Skillet from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Quick Shrimp Fried Rice with Peas and Carrots from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Spanish Rice from Palatable Pastime
Split Green Moong Khichdi /Chilkewali Moong Dal Khichdi from Sneha’s Recipe
Ingredients Required For Palak Rice | Spinach Rice
Cooked Plain Rice or Leftover Rice – many cook the rice and spinach together from scratch. The spinach in this method gets overcooked, resulting in loss of valuable nutrients.
Vegetables Of Your Choice – add peas, carrots, potatoes, sweet corn, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. For today’s recipe I have used cooked sweet corn.
Onion – peeled and sliced lengthwise. Use red, white or yellow onion.
Garlic – peeled and minced. As spinach and garlic pair very well, I use a bit more.
Green Chilli – paste or finely chopped.
Ginger – paste or grated.
Bell Pepper – finely diced.
Sweet Corn – cooked. Can use frozen, canned or freshly cooked.
Spinach – puree. Add spinach in the hot water. Allow it to wilt for 2-3 minutes. Remove the spinach using a slotted spoon. Puree into a coarse paste. I usually keep the puree ready in the freezer for the rice, curries, dals, parathas,etc. Can also use frozen spinach. For the rice you need about 1 cup of spinach puree.
Ghee – or oil. Ghee adds a delightful flavour to the rice.
Mustard Seeds – rai.
Cumin Seeds – jeera, jiru.
Whole Spices – cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, bay leaf, cardamom. Whole spices add flavour without it being overtly spicy.
Asafoetida – hing. Optional Ingredient. For gluten free rice don’t add asafoetida. Or buy one that is pure without any wheat flour.
Turmeric Powder – hardar, haldi.
Cashew Nuts – or any other nuts of your choice.
Salt – add according to your taste.
Garam Masala or Biryani Masala – I use my homemade Biryani Masala. Garam Masala is easily available in most Indian Stores.



Watch How To Make Palak Rice | Spinach Rice

SPINACH RICE | PALAK RICE
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked rice or leftover rice
- 1 cup spinach puree thick
- ½ cup bell pepper diced
- 1 cup onion sliced
- 2 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp chilli paste
- 1 cup sweet corn cooked
- 1 tbsp ghee or oil
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 4 whole cardamom
- 6 peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp garam masala or biryani masala
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ¼ cup cashew nut pieces roasted
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp ghee or oil in a pan.
- Add mustard and cumin seeds to it. When they splutter, add the whole spices.
- Stri fry for a few seconds.
- Add the onions.
- Saute the onions till they turn light pink in colour.
- Add garlic and saute for a few seconds. Add the ginger and chilli paste.
- Add the cashew nuts.
- Add the diced bell pepper and mix. Allow the bell pepper to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the spinach puree. Burn off any extra water by turning the heat on high flame for a 2 to 3 minutes. Lower the heat.
- Add the corn, turmeric powder, salt and garam masala or biryani masala. Mix well.
- Add the cooked rice and gently mix it. Allow it to become hot.
- If you want to serve it with cheese, add grated cheese and cover the pan for 5 minutes.
- Alternately, remove the rice into a baking tray, sprinkle grated cheese and broil for a minute or two or till the cheese melts.
- Serve hot with yogurt, pickle,papad, salad or on its own.
Notes
- I prefer using ghee as it gives a nice aroma and taste to the rice.
- To prepare the spinach puree, add washed spinach leaves to the hot water in a pan. Allow the spinach to wilt for 2-3 minutes. Remove the wilted leaves from the water with a slotted spoon. Allow it to cool a bit. Puree in the food processor without any water.
- Can serve the rice without the cheese with kadhi. Check out the kadhi recipe.
- Check out the biryani spice mixture.
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22 Comments
Sneha Datar
July 24, 2022 at 7:03 am
That’s a nutritious rice bowl!
mayurisjikoni
July 27, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Thank you Sneha.
Wendy Klik
July 24, 2022 at 8:31 am
I make a green rice but not with this flavor profile. Can’t wait to try it.
mayurisjikoni
July 27, 2022 at 2:39 pm
Thanks Wendy, you know how Indians are with their spices… 😉
Karen’s Kitchen Stories
July 24, 2022 at 2:01 pm
Great way to trick the kids into eating their spinach! It sounds amazing.
mayurisjikoni
July 27, 2022 at 2:38 pm
Thanks Karen, yes that is the way I use to get my kids to enjoy spinach. They called it Popeye Rice.
Seema
July 26, 2022 at 3:17 am
The spinach rice looks amazing. I love the way you have presented it with the roasted papad.
mayurisjikoni
July 27, 2022 at 2:34 pm
Thank you so much Seema. Hubby always need papad with all the rice dishes.
Archana
July 26, 2022 at 3:39 am
Absolutely love the addition of spinach to the rice. My kids would have called it Popeye rice! Addition of cheddar cheese will make the rice absolutely yummy.
mayurisjikoni
July 27, 2022 at 2:34 pm
Thanks Archana, funnily that is what my kids use to call it when they were little. It tastes good with cheddar cheese, I love it that way.
Shobha Keshwani
September 3, 2022 at 10:41 pm
Wow, looks super delicious and healthy. I am loving the vibrant colour of this palak rice. Nice idea of adding diced bell peppers too. I love to have it with papad and dahi.
mayurisjikoni
September 6, 2022 at 2:18 pm
Thank you so much Shobha, me too love to have pulao and biryani with dahi.
Seema Sriram
September 5, 2022 at 4:30 am
Wow the colour of the rice and the flavour is amazing. WE loved every bite of it. and the green was the perfect spring welcome.
mayurisjikoni
September 6, 2022 at 2:16 pm
Thank you so much Seema.Cooked this way the spinach remains green and also doesn’t get overcooked. Overcooking it reduces the nutrients.
Jayashree T.Rao
September 6, 2022 at 2:58 am
I often make spinach rice but it is a different version . Liked the addition of cheese over it.
mayurisjikoni
September 6, 2022 at 2:13 pm
Thanks Jayashree, anything to get the kids to enjoy certain vegetables… cheese is an excellent idea to get them to enjoy spinach based food.
Kalyani
September 6, 2022 at 7:28 am
my younger one is a huge fan of one pot meals like these for lunch. am sure to try this palak rice for lunch one of these days..
mayurisjikoni
September 6, 2022 at 2:12 pm
Thanks Kalyani and a wonderful way to use up leftover rice.
Neha
September 8, 2022 at 11:15 pm
Such a flavorful palak rice. This is a one pot meal and full.of nutrition. Along with spinach any other veggies can also be added. Would love to try out your version with spinach puree as well. Usually I saute spinach for pulao. Great post!
mayurisjikoni
September 12, 2022 at 2:33 pm
Thank you so much Neha. The reason I used cooked rice and add spinach puree to it is because I don’t want to lose the spinach nutrients by over cooking it.
Priya Vj
September 8, 2022 at 12:54 pm
I think spinach rice is a go to rwxipe for all mommies to sneak in the palak. My mom also used to make this very frequently when I was a kid and just as you have mentioned the green color fascinated me so much that I would eat it without a fuss 🙂
mayurisjikoni
September 8, 2022 at 3:39 pm
Thank you so much Priya, and now my son does that for his girls 🙂