Spinach, Peas & Paneer(Cottage Cheese) Brown Rice

Brown rice was the every day food in my house couple of years before. It’s been almost two years since Quinoa, replaced this wonderful grain. There are lot of posts still lying in my draft with brown rice as the star ingredient. I love this grain and even though I don’t cook with it very often like before now, I do make dishes occasionally using this high fiber grain.  If you include brown rice in your diet do try this recipe out and I am sure you are going to love it.  Do not forget to presoak your brown rice, I normally soak it for 12-18 hours.



Preparation Time – 20 Minutes

Cooking Time – 30 to 45 Minutes

Serves – 3 to 4





Ingredients





Brown Basmati Rice – 1 1/4 Cup(Soaked for 12-18 hours, rinsed and drained)

Spinach – 1 Bunch(Rinsed, drained, thick stalks removed and chopped)

Frozen thawed peas – 3/4 Cup

Paneer(Indian style cottage cheese cubes) – 3/4 Cup

Coconut Oil or clarified butter (ghee) – 1 Tbsp

Turmeric powder – 1/2 Tsp

Yogurt Sour – 1/3 Cup

Salt – 1 Tsp or to taste

Green Chili  & Coriander Paste (Handful of coriander(cilantro), green chili 2 or to taste, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds ground into a coarse to fine paste)

Water – 3 Cups

Cashews – 1 Tbsp

Cinnamon stick, Star Anise, Clove – 2, 1, 1 each

Method





1) Heat a Tsp of oil in a thick bottomed pan, add the cinnamon stick, star anise, clove and once they are slightly brown and fragrant add the green peas and saute for  5 minutes.



2) Now add the spinach and saute for 2-3 minutes. Now to this add the soaked and drained brown rice, water, salt, turmeric powder, chili & cilantro paste, yogurt and cover and cook stirring in between.



3) Once the rice is 3/4 Cooked and still with some water add the paneer(cottage cheese) cubes and cook till the rice is well cooked and the water is all absorbed.



4) Heat the rest of the oil and fry the cashews till golden and transfer the cashews with the oil to the cooked rice and mix gently and thoroughly with a fork and serve hot with raita(yogurt dip) of your choice.

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Spinach & Bean Soup

So planning to throw a holiday party ? Definitely include these kind of soups and salads, which are water rich and fiber rich to fills up and helps to cut down on the calorie rich main course. Spinach is such a healthy vegetable with loads of Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Iron, Calcium apart from a host of other vitamins and minerals. A low glycemic index food and will perfectly fit the diet list of weight watchers and carb watchers also. The addition of Cannellini bean in this soup, adds not only thickness to this soup but fortifies with additional protein.  This recipe is too simple and can be done in minutes, do try this out and let me know what you think about this one.





Preparation Time - 10 Minutes

Cooking Time - 10 to 15 Minutes

Serves - 4





Ingredients



Spinach - 1 bunch(Rinsed, Drained,  thick stalks removed, chopped)

Cannelli bean - 3/4 Cup(Cooked)

Coconut Oil -2 Tsp

Garlic - 2 Cloves(Chopped into fine pieces)

Crushed black pepper - 1 Tsp or to taste

Salt - 1/2 Tsp or to taste

Fresh lemon juice - 1 Tsp or to taste

Water - 4 Cups(Add more for a thinner soup)



Method



1) Heat a tsp of oil and add the spinach and saute till they are slightly wilted for 8-10 minutes on medium heat. Switch off and let this cool for few minutes.



2) In a blender add the cooked spinach, beans, salt and half of the water and blend till a smooth paste. Add the remaining water and puree one more time.



3) Heat a pan, add remaining oil and saute till the garlic browns and transfer the pureed content from the blender to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.



4) Switch off and add lemon juice and black pepper. Serve hot.

Events



1) Sending this to Soup and Salad Mela by Srivalli.



2) Sending this to Winter Carnival an event hosted by Radhika of Tickling Palates.

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