Mexican Green Rice / Arroz Verde

Couple of weeks before, I happened to read about few recipes of Mexican Cuisine and wondered why I haven’t posted such easy recipes in my blog till now. Though I know about few recipes from that cuisine and its preparation (Thanks to the menu cards with detailed preparation at few restaurents :-)), I tried Mexican recipes only few times at home. Fine, today’s recipe an inspiration from the daily newspaper and replaced poblano chillies with hot Indian chillies. I used only 2 chillies for mild hot taste. Use more chillies for extra hot and add vegetables stock for additional taste.

After reading the recipe, you might wonder as the preparation is similar to our one pot spinach rice. 🙂

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 30 minutes for soaking rice

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Basmathi Rice – 1 cup

Spinach leaves – 1 cup

Coriander leaves – 1/3 cup

Green chillies – 2 nos

Onion – 1 no, small size, finely chopped

Garlic – 2 cloves, finely chopped

Olive oil – 1 tablespoon

Vegetable stock / Water – 2 cups

Salt – to taste

Method:

1) Wash and soak basmathi rice in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drain the water and keep aside.

2) Wash and clean the spinach and coriander leaves. Chop them and add them to the grinder/Mixer. Add green chillies it and grind it to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

3) Heat oil in a kadai / frying pan.

4) Add garlic and onion when the oil is hot and not smoking. Saute till both become golden brown and releases nice aroma.

5) Add the drained rice and saute till the rice becomes brown.

6) Add the spinach paste to the rice and mix well.

7) Transfer this rice spinach mixture to the pressure cooker and add 2 cups of water and salt to taste. Pressure cook it for 3 whistles. Once the steam suppresses, fluff it off using a fork.

8) Serve hot.

Notes:

1) Instead of pressure cooking, you can directly add 2 cups of water to the frying pan and cover it tightly for 10 minutes or until you don’t see water in the pan.

2) The thumb rule for rice and water ratio is 1:2. However, it might change based on the rice brand. I followed the instructions given in my rice pack and added water accordingly.

Linking this recipe to Julie’s Flavors Of Cuisines-“Mexican” guest hosted by My food treasures here.