Spinach Rice

Vangi bhath powder is a 'must have' ingredient in my kitchen. It comes handy to prepare versatile rice dishes fit for any parties or when I am in a mood to go for easy breezy kind of stuff. I use the basic recipe and just change the vegetables to create dishes with different texture and tastes. Here is one such simple, yet very scrumptious rice dish which is a meal by itself. To nutritious spinach, I added some colorful carrots for flavor and a vitamin boost, added them to rice and spiced up with the vangibhath powder. Voila! Colorful and tasty spinach rice is ready.

This is my 'S' entry for Nupur's A- Z Indian vegetable event.

Ingredients:
Sona masuri rice - 1 cup heaped
Spinach - A bunch (you would need around a cup of cooked spinach) or 10 oz frozen spinach
Carrots - 2
Vangibhath Powder (Home made or MTR brand) - 3 - 4 Tbsp (Less or more depending upon the spiciness preferred)
Cashews - 1 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Few Curry leaves
Oil - 4 tbsp
Salt Preparation: Cook the rice with two cups of water in a pressure cooker.
If using fresh spinach, chop the leaves finely. Peel the carrots and chop them into one inch pieces.
To minimise the usage of oil, I cook fresh/frozen spinach and carrots individually in the microwave.
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and chana dal. When chanadal turns red and mustard seeds start to pop, add cashews and curry leaves. Toast them for a few seconds. You add the microwave cooked veggies now.
(If you have not cooked the veggies in the microwave already, then add chopped spinach and carrots to the pan and fry them on low flame till they are cooked).
Fry the cooked veggies for a couple of minutes. By the time, the spinach would have turned a darker shade. Add the vangibhath powder and salt. Adjust them according to the taste preferences. Stir the whole mixture properly so that all the rice and vegetables are uniformly coated with the vangibhath powder. Turn off the stove.
Serve hot with some potato chips or raita.
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