Green Rice

This is an easy green rice that I stumbled upon when I was browsing Aayis blog. I think it is pretty ingenious use of spinach in a rice item. I typically cook this rice with just cilantro leaves and some mint. But the addition of Spinach makes this more healthy and also adds little bit more body to the sauce. Made some modifications to suit our taste.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice soaked for 30 minutes
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup cilantro
- 1 onion
- 1 cup mixed vegetable (I just used frozen peas and carrots)
- 4-5 green chilies
- small piece of ginger pealed
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 1 tsp garam masala
- salt to taste

Seasoning:
- few cloves
- 1 star anise
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp oil

Method:
1. Grind spinach, cilantro, ginger, chilies, coconut to a fine paste. Do not add too much water.
2. Now in a huge vessel add oil and all the seasoning ingredients. Once they turn slightly brown add the onions and fry till it becomes soft. Add the ground paste. Fry till you see oil separate from the sides.
3. Add the vegetables and toss them around till the sauce coats all the vegetables. Now add the rice and salt. Give this a good mix.
4. Pour in two cups of water and let it all come to a boil. Reduce the heat and cover it. Cook it until the rice becomes fluffy. This takes around 20 minutes. Check in between to see if it has enough water. If not add some more. Serve it hot with raita or pappad.

An alternate method is to skip coconut and instead add coconut milk. So instead of two cups of water cook it in 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water. This makes a richer and creamier rice. Perfect for parties.