Spinach Pulao | Palak Peas Pulao | Quick Palak Pulav - Easy One Pot Meal Recipe

Quick Palak pulao - One Pot Meal / Lunch Box recipe with step by step pictures. I prefer to cook one pot meal at least once in a week, it can be a Non-Veg Biryani for Sunday's lunch or Arisi Paruppu Sadham for Vegetarian Saturday Lunch or simple and quick one pot meal like pulao for weekdays lunch. I mostly pack rotis & sabzi/Dry side for my kid's lunch box but making rotis and sabzi all five days is not possible since I cook separate lunch for V.  So once in a week I pack rice for sanjay too, sanjay likes mild pulao for lunch, and the pulao should me mildly spiced and not loaded with more vegetables. Keeping that in mind, I prepared this easy peasy Spinach Pulao / Green pulao and he loved it a lot.
Spinach pulao/ Palak Pulao can be prepared in less time with simple ingredients. Recently,I started to use my freezer more, yes.,I started following few of my friends' technique
and freeze beasn, greens, chopped vegetables, seasonal fruits, coconut etc., And it really help me to cook both breakfast and lunch in an hour. For this pulao i used my frozen chopped spinach, put them in microwave with couple of tsps of water and cook in high heat for 2 minutes then blend it with green chilli, ginger and garlic. If you are using fresh spinach, then cook or blanch or use as it is.

Spinach Pulao / Palak Pulao Recipe

Prep Time : 10 minutes | Cook Time : 25 minutes

Serves  4

Ingredients

1. Basmati Rice   1 cup
2. Spinach   1 and 1/2 cup(fresh, frozen means use 1 cup)
3. Onion  1 no.(thinly sliced)
4. Green chili  1 or 2 no.
5. Garlic   1 fat clove
6. Ginger  1" piece
7. Green Peas   1/4 cup(fresh or frozen)optional
8. Turmeric Powder  1/4 tsp
9. Garam Masala Powder   1/4-1/2 tsp
10. Salt   to taste

To Temper

1. Oil   1 and 1/2 tbsp
2. Fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
3. Clove   3 no.
4. Cinnamon  1" stick
5. Cardamom  3 no.
6. Bay leaf  1 no.

Method

• Wash spinach and chop it roughly, in a pan add spinach, garlic and ginger sprinkle little water and cook covered for 2 minutes.
• Then allow it cool for a while blend it to a smooth puree and keep aside.

• Now heat oil in a pressure pan or cooker, when it is hot add the tempering ingredients and fry well.
• Then add sliced onion and slit green chili and saute for 1-2 minutes.
• After that add the ground spinach puree and stir fry for a minute.

• And then add frozen peas, give a stir then add soaked and drained basmati rice and stir fry in medium high heat for 2 minutes.
• Then add 2 cups of water, enough salt, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, mix well and pressure for 1-2 whistle or cook until rice is done.

Notes:
I prefer to cook spinach slightly before blending but you can also use raw spinach puree, if using raw spinach puree then before adding soaked rice, stir fry until raw smell leaves
I used a pinch for dried mint while sauteing onions, you can use fresh mint and saute it along with onions.
I usually soak rice for 10-15 minutes, and always use 1:2 rice and water ratio, for 1 cup of rice i used 2 cups of water.