If you want to get your kids to eat more green things, this rice is the key-green herbs and spinach whizzed up in the blender and then cooked with the rice give it a mild, and yet flavourful, taste. Don’t worry, the jalapenos won’t make things too spicy, and you can tell the kid that it’s Popeye’s favorite side dish! We love this with enchiladas or other Mexican food but it’s equally delicious with Caribbean or Indian dishes as well.
Ingredients:
1 bunch spinach, stemmed
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch Italian parsley
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups jasmine or other long grain white rice
4 tbsp minced chives
In a blender, combine the bunch of spinach, cilantro, parsley, jalapenos, ½ tsp salt, and 1 cup of stock. Blend until it’s liquefied. This is a bit of a process-I had to blend, stop and push the mixture down with a wooden spoon, blend some more, and so on until it would come together. The process took a little while, and may be faster if you have a large food processor to help with the job.
Heat up a little olive oil in the pot that you plan to cook the rice in. Add the onion and garlic, stirring over medium low heat until softened and translucent. Add the rice and continue to stir and cook until the rice turns slightly golden. Make sure to watch it, you don’t want to burn the rice! Add the green mixture you blitzed up in your blender and the remaining stock, give it all a good stir, and then bring to a boil. Once it boils, put a lid on it, turn the heat to minimum, and let it simmer for 15 minutes. No peeking! After the 15 minutes is up, take it off the heat and allow it to sit for another 10 minutes.
Fluff your rice up with a fork and serve, topped with the chives.
Makes 4-6 servings
Adapted from Rebar
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