Turmeric Spinach Rice
I love the colors of this Turmeric Spinach Rice. The yellow is so bright and the green compliments it perfectly. It also has a nice combination of flavors and stays well in the fridge so it can easily be made in advance. I first made this for my friend Amelia. She had invited us for lunch ( or we had invited ourselves ) and I offered to bring a rice side dish. I wanted to bring something pretty that also tastes good and this was just the right thing. My only mistake was to make too much but the leftover rice can be frozen and used to make this delicious stuffed chicken. I brought my friend Penina along for lunch and she asked for the recipe. Penina – this is for you 🙂 I also have not mentioned that this rice is practically fool proof because I bake it in the oven. Instructions are below.
The ingredients
The rice is baked in a pan in the oven
Saute onions in a pan until soft
Squeeze the spinach out using a towel
Cooked rice. Practically foolproof in the oven
Mix rice with spinach and onions
Serve!
- 3 cups of rice ( I like to use Jasmine)
- 3 cups of water
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin
- 5 tablespoons of olive oil divided
- 1 10 oz. bag frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- Add rice, water, salt, turmeric, cumin and two tablespoons of oil to a pan and mix to combine
- Bake covered at 375 for 45 min to an hour checking after 45 minutes to see if rice is done
- Saute onions until soft on medium to low flame (about 10 -15 minutes)
- Add garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant
- Add spinach and saute for another 3 minutes. Set aside
- When rice is done combine with spinach mixture
Yum! This looks delicious & easy.
I am so making this!
I just made this for the first time and substituted frozen spinach for fresh collard greens from my CSA delivery- it was a success and DELICIOUS!
Thanks Zehava! So happy to hear that
Same amount water and rice?
So sorry! I don’t know why this ended up in my spam folder… The answer is yes
Delicious. Can’t wait to make it again.
question- can you make this in advance and reheat?
Hi Jen – absolutely! Sorry for the late response.. Hope you enjoy it
I followed the link to this recipe from your Tandoori chicken post. This rice is really good!! Of course my family of non-adventurous eaters had to be coaxed (coreced?) into eating it but even they admitted it “wasn’t bad” = it’s pretty good.
Thanks! When my father says “not bad” we take it as a huge compliment
Making this again. It’s always a crowd pleaser.
Does the rice have to be cooked first before putting it in the oven?
Hi Dave – no it does not. It cooks in the oven
Would love to make this but I’m concerned about your rice to water ratio. Jasmine rice says to use 1 1/4 cups to 1/ 1/2 cups per 1 cup of Jasmine rice. However, the rice I use, I get at my local Indian market. It’s the most commonly used rice in India, Sona Masoori and it requires 2 1/2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. Unless there’s some compensation in this recipe that allows you to use less water per cup, I have to assume I would have to use more water than 1 cup per 1 cup of my rice. Would you agree?
What’s great about baking rice in the oven is that it’s much more forgiving. I would recommend 2 cups of water for 1 cup rice for this recipe for your rice. Try it first with 1 cup rice and see what happens. I use many kinds of white rice and 1:1 always works for me. Let me know what happens!
my wife is a picky eater and recently. I tried cooking spinach with rice and she loved it. Boy is she in for a surprise tonight. I’m making your spinach and rice. I know she’s going to love it .I DID…..
my wife is a picky eater and recently. I tried cooking spinach with rice and she loved it. Boy is she in for a surprise tonight. I’m making your spinach and rice. I know she’s going to love it .I DID…..
Let me know if she liked it!