Spinach - Corn Rice | Palak Rice ~ Lunch Box Special

Its been quite a few days since I posted something here. The reason being simple, I just got pre occupied with several other things that I hardly got time to pen down the drafts and publish them. So sorry dears. Anyways wish I have this energetic feel always to keep my blog space ready to publish all posts consistently. Today's post is a simple lunch box rice that takes hardly anytime to put together. Whenever mom prepared dishes out of these greens, I used to shy away as spinach was a big 'no' to me as a child.
But as I grew up and started understanding the good health benefits of spinach, I started using spinach in my cooking. Gradually this soft corner for palak helped me to try out variation of spinach recipes which would be acceptable to all especially my kids. The elder child is particular about a few peculiar tastes and so he doesn't like spinach. However spinach in the pureed form hardly tastes anything like spinach greens when it is ground along with a few cashews and added to this rice. The ground paste of grated coconut and cashews adds the needed fat to the rice to make it soft and doesn't make the rice dry out when mixed with spinach puree. The beautiful green color of this rice makes it stand out and definitely a kiddo pleaser too. Corn adds a nice sweetness to the rice which balances the flavours of palak. These are my home grown organic batch of spinach and so I plucked them before its very mature as baby spinach and so tasted delicious. The fried raisins in the rice is purely optional but my kids love cashew or raisins in these one pot meals and so I do add them. Do give this a try and am sure all will love it !!

Preparation time ~ 20 mins

Cooking time ~ 20 mins

Author~ Julie

Serves ~ 3 

Ingredients

rice 1 cup(basmati / sona masoori)

frozen corn kernels 1/2 cup

oil 3 tbsp

raisins  1 tbsp

turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

salt to taste

to grind

palak 1/2 bunch or 1 cup chopped

grated coconut 1/4 cup

cashews 10

ginger 1 " piece

garlic 4-5 cloves

green chillies 2 broken

Method

• Soak the cashews in a bowl of water for about 20 minutes.
• Wash and chop the palak(spinach). Blanch the palak and keep aside ( how to blanch palak- In a bowl of hot water, add the spinach leaves for about 40-45 seconds till stems are wilted.Immediately drain water and add in a bowl of cold water to stop cooking process. Drain water and use).

• In a mixer jar, add the grated coconut, ginger, garlic, green chillies, cashews and blanched palak. Add a tbsp of water to grind to a smooth paste.
• In the meantime, cook the rice as per packet instructions or rice variety. Keep aside to cool.
• In a pan, heat the oil. Add in the raisins, wait till its golden brown. Drain and keep aside.In the same oil add the corn kernels. Saute the corn for about 1 minute and add the ground paste. 

• Wash the blender jar with 3 tbsp of water and add. Cook till the masala is cooked well for 2 minutes, add salt and turmeric powder. Add in the cooked rice, mix well. Adjust salt if needed. 
• Cook covered for a minute and switch off flame. Add in the raisins and mix well.Serve warm with cucumber raitha and fried fryms. Enjoy !!

NOTES

* I didn't feel the need to add chilli powder as 2 green chillies were added as paste. But if you still feel to increase the heat then feel free to do so.

* I  have used frozen corn, thawed and used. If you use fresh corn kernels,then cook and use.

* You can use frozen green peas too instead of corn kernels.