Spinach Pulav with Spinach Raita

Today it's double dose of spinach. Usually I serve Spinach pulav with plain homemade dahi/yoghurt but I had some baby spinach needed to be used so result was Spinach raita, which can also be used as a dip for any type of finger food : vegetable sticks, tandoori chicken etc. This pulav is another one pot dish I rely on whenever I'm in time crunch, not only easy to prepare but tasty too....

For Spinach Pulav :

What U need : 

• 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed & soaked in water for at least 20 minutes
• a big bunch of fresh spinach, washed & chopped
• few small size frozen bhalle/vadas(fried lentil dumplings *see note)
• 1 carrot finely chopped
• 2-3 dry whole red chillies
• around 1" piece of cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves(laung)
• 1 tsp. cumin(jeera)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder or 2-3 green chillies
• salt
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• clarified butter(ghee)/cooking oil

What U do :

1. In a heavy bottom pan heat little ghee/oil(1 Tblsp.). Add cumin, cinnamon stick, cloves & dry whole red chillies.
2. Add drained rice & gently stir them so that they get the coating of oil.
3. Add all the dry spices, stir. Add spinach, carrots & bhalle/vadas(if using). Do not soak the bhalle first in water.
4. Add 2 cups of water. Cover & cook till the rice are done.

* Note : Use of ghee will make it more aromatic. Addition of bhalle makes this dish complete meal as it provides the protein. Whenever I make bhalle for dahi-bhalle I usually make few additional small bite size bhallas also, and freeze them which come handy in dishes like this. 

Variations : Instead of bhalle to get the dose of protein one can use nutri soy chunks, chicken or paneer cubes(Indian cheese). But in case of paneer add it once the pulav is cooked.

For Spinach Raita :

What U need :

• 1 cup dahi/plain yoghurt
• 1/2 cup chopped baby spinach (in case of regular spinach blanch it first)
• salt
• black pepper

What U do : Whisk the yoghurt & add rest of the ingredients. Serve it as a side dish for any kind of pulav or in this case with spinach pulav.

Salmon in fresh Fenugreek Ginger Garlicky Sauce / Hariyali Fish

This is not something I make regularly, in fact I made this dish this way for the first time but I'm sure I'm gonna make it quite often now. Though I named it  Hariyali(greenery) fish, but the color  of the dish is not green  because the greens are not pureed & also because of all the other ingredients that goes in. Plan was to make regular fish curry but when I opened the cooler box saw two bunches of fenugreek(methi) leaves, needed to be cleaned but as I was cleaning, my mind was planning something else. I must say inspiration behind these kind of dishes is Mr. HE, as he keep saying put fish & chicken in everything you cook and which is totally not me. I do use dry methi leaves(kasuri methi) in my fish curries but cooking with fresh ones is little different as fenugreek has little bitter taste, though in my family everybody enjoys it but when mixing it with fish I didn't wanted it to overpower the flavors of fish, so I made it little extra spicy and used little extra onion & tomatoes. The final results were so good that I'm sure I'm gonna make it regularly now.

What U need :

• 1 pound fish clean & cut into pieces around 3" or so (I used wild salmon)
• 2 small bunch - around 1 pound of fresh fenugreek(methi) cleaned & finely chopped( pluck the leaves from the stem before chopping & discard the stems)
• 1 & 1/2 big onion, finely chopped
• 2 large tomatoes, pureed
• 1 & 1/2 Tblsp. of finely chopped ginger
• 1 & 1/2 Tblsp. of finely chopped garlic
• finely chopped green chillies as per taste( I used 5)
• 1 Tblsp. of tomato paste
• 2 Tblsp. of plain yogurt/dahi
• salt as per taste
• 2 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder
• 2 tsp. coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala(indian spice mix)
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 2-3 whole dry red chillies
• juice of half a lemon/lime
• oil for cooking around 2-3 Tblsp.

What to do :

1. Sprinkle juice of lime on the fish and rub salt, 1 tsp. turmeric, 1 tsp. of paprika on the fish. Cover and keep it aside.
2. Take a wok/Karahi, heat 2 Tblsp. of oil. Add mustard seeds when splutter add garlic, when aroma starts to come add ginger & sprinkle a pinch of salt on to it, that will help ginger release it's juices hence prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan as we are not using a lot of oil.
3. Now add chopped onions, pinch of salt, stir, saute them till they become translucent, add tomato paste & tomato puree. Cook it for 5 minutes or so.
4. Add green chillies, salt, 1 tsp. turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder, 1 tsp. paprika.Mix it.
5. Add chopped methi(fenugreek) leaves to it. Cook it for about 15 minutes or so on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Below is the picture of fenugreek cooked at this stage.
   
   
   
   
6. While leaves are being cooked, heat an iron griddle or a non-stick pan add 1 Tblsp. of oil & saute the fish on both sides. Saute it till it's cooked half way, as rest of the cooking will be finished in the sauce. For salmon with skin on I usually cook for around 2-3 minutes on each side, depending upon it's thickness. Keep it aside.
7. Beat yogurt/dahi add it to the veggie mix, let it cook for few minutes & it will start leaving oil on the sides of the wok/karahi/. Add around 2 cups of water, cover & let it come to boil. Add less or more water according to the thickness of sauce/gravy required. I made thick kind of gravy (not runny kind) to be served with rice.
8. Once the water starts to boil add sauteed fish, give it a gentle swirl & let it cook for another 5 minutes or so, till the fish gets fully cooked.
9. I served it with rice but I'm sure will taste equally good if served with roti(Indian flat bread).

It's one very healthy dish, because of all the good stuff that goes in. I have already discussed the benefits of salmon in my older post, here are some of the benefits of fenugreek :

1) Due to its estrogen-like properties, fenugreek has been found to help relieve the symptoms of menopause and PMS.

2) In India and China it has also been used to treat arthritis, asthma, bronchitis, improve digestion, maintain a healthy metabolism, cure skin problems (wounds, rashes and boils), treat sore throat, and cure acid reflux.

3) Fenugreek helps lower blood glucose and cholesterol levels.

4) Fenugreek is also being studied for its cardiovascular benefits.

5) Very beneficial to aid milk production in lactating mothers.


As one of the main ingredient is fenugreelk leaves, I'm sending this dish to Yasmeen's Health Nut Challenge : 4 - Bitter Better Health.