Spinach Pulav with Coconut Milk - 1

For a long time I have been hearing about the electric pressure cooker Instant pot . Although everyone that owns it had all the positive feedbacks about it, I wasn’t very inclined to add another gadget to my already over-crowded kitchen. But then during Thanksgiving sale, my friend gave me that last nudge and told it was on a sale. She said I am never going to get it at that price. I gave in and bought it. The big attraction for me was the steel inner pot. Since then I have used it a lot, prepared all kinds of dishes in it. This Spinach pulav with Coconut milk, loaded with vegetables and paneer was one of the first dishes I tried making in Instant pot.

I am trying to include more greens in our diet. Spinach gets added to pulavs, chapatis, bread, soups, gravies etc. This time I wanted to use up some beetroot and paneer, so I added them to pulav along with spinach. Coconut milk gave a very mild taste to it. This pulav came out so good that I will have to make this regularly.

spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk1 - 2 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk1 - 3 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk2 - 4 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk2 - 5 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk3 - 6 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk3 - 7 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk4 - 8 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk4 - 9

Pictorial: Heat oil/ghee and fry the spices, followed by onions, cashews. Add tomatoes, followed by spinach paste, garam masala.

spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk5 - 10 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk5 - 11 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk6 - 12 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk6 - 13 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk7 - 14 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk7 - 15 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk8 - 16 spinach-rice-with-coconut-milk8 - 17

Add rice and fry for few minutes. Then add the vegetables, coconut milk and cook till done.

Spinach Pulav with Coconut Milk - 18

Spinach Pulav with Coconut Milk

Ingredients

  • 2 cups basmati rice
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 3-4 cloves
  • 3-4 cardamom
  • 2 tbl spns cashews
  • 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes I used green tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup green beans
  • 1/2 cup chopped beetroot
  • 1/2 cup chopped paneer
  • 1/2 cup green peas
  • 1 cup thick coconut milk
  • 1 tea spn garam masala
  • Ghee/Oil
  • Salt
  • For paste:
  • 1 tightly packed cup of spinach
  • 1/4 cup coriander leaves
  • 1 tea spn ginger
  • 1 tea spn garlic
  • 4 green chillies

Instructions

  • Wash rice in water and remove all water (I just put it in a sieve).
  • Make a paste of spinach and other ingredients under paste, do not add too much water.
  • Heat oil and add cloves, cardamom.
  • Add onions, cashews, fry till onions are translucent.
  • Add tomatoes,fry for few minutes.
  • Now add the paste, garam masala and fry till some of the water is absorbed.
  • Now add rice and fry well.
  • Add peas, beetroot, paneer, green beans, salt, mix.
  • Then add coconut milk, 3 cups water, cook till rice is done.
  • Serve hot.
Spinach Pulav with Coconut Milk - 19

Spinach Pulav with Coconut Milk

Ingredients

  • 2 cups basmati rice
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 3-4 cloves
  • 3-4 cardamom
  • 2 tbl spns cashews
  • 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes I used green tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup green beans
  • 1/2 cup chopped beetroot
  • 1/2 cup chopped paneer
  • 1/2 cup green peas
  • 1 cup thick coconut milk
  • 1 tea spn garam masala
  • Ghee/Oil
  • Salt
  • For paste:
  • 1 tightly packed cup of spinach
  • 1/4 cup coriander leaves
  • 1 tea spn ginger
  • 1 tea spn garlic
  • 4 green chillies

Instructions

  • Wash rice in water and remove all water (I just put it in a sieve).
  • Make a paste of spinach and other ingredients under paste, do not add too much water.
  • Heat oil and add cloves, cardamom.
  • Add onions, cashews, fry till onions are translucent.
  • Add tomatoes,fry for few minutes.
  • Now add the paste, garam masala and fry till some of the water is absorbed.
  • Now add rice and fry well.
  • Add peas, beetroot, paneer, green beans, salt, mix.
  • Then add coconut milk, 3 cups water, cook till rice is done.
  • Serve hot.
Batate Kosambari - 20

Wish you all a very happy new year 2017.

The highlight of 2016 for me was having my parents visit us here in Kansas. They stayed here for 2 months. We had the best time and food. Aayi cooked all my favorites from my childhood. Kids had a fantastic time with grand parents – It was awesome to see the kids running behind aabbu(grand dad) all day long. We took them to all our favorite restaurants. I wish they could stay more but the winter was making me nervous. We were also trying to think about some old/new recipes to post here. This batate kosambari was one such recipe.

Aayi has very fond memories of eating it while she was growing up. This is her grandmom’s recipe. This is a very easy recipe with few ingredients like most of the Konkani recipes. The raw onions give it a nice crunch. We loved eating it with rice and dalithoy while aayi talked about her grandmom.

batate-kosambari1 - 21 batate-kosambari1 - 22 batate-kosambari2 - 23 batate-kosambari2 - 24

Pictorial: Make the chutney with minimum water needed. Then mix with potatoes and onion.

Potato-Coconut Chutney (Batate Kosambari)

Ingredients

  • 2 big boiled potatoes peeled and chopped
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
  • 3-4 red chillies
  • A small piece of tamarind
  • Salt

Instructions

  • Grind coconut, chillies, tamarind, salt into smooth chutney using very little water.
  • Mix potatoes, onions with chutney.
  • Serve with dalithoy or any simple dal and rice.