Spinach biryani | Keerai biriyani | Spinach rice recipe

Spinach Biriyani is a flavorful rice and I bet you, any spinach-haters at home will become Spinach biriyani lovers, after tasting this 🙂 This is the best way to make kids eat spinach, I would say. This gives you a real biriyani feel and I am sure you all will love it 🙂 This is so easy to make and is an ideal lunch box recipe. One good news about this recipe is that you no need to chop greens 😉 You shall make this in 20 mins and serve it with raitha or boiled egg or just papad. You shall relish it without any sides as well ! This is not a faux biriyani. This is a flavorful biriyani, I promise.

Spinach Biriyani Recipe:

Spinach Biryani | Keerai Biriyani

 

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Ingredients

For Rice:

• Basmati Rice - 1 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Salt - ½ tsp

To grind:

• Ginger - 1 small piece
• Garlic - 2 big cloves or 4 small
• Green chilli - 1 or 2 or more as per spice level
• Coriander - 10 stalks with leaves
• Mint - 10 big leaves
• Small onion - 2 small
• Coconut - 1 tbsp heaped
• Fennel seeds/Sombu - ¼ tsp
• Peppercorns/Milagu - 10
• Stone flower/Kalpaasi - 1 small pinch or just 1 piece
• Cinnamon/Pattai - 1 small piece
• Clove/Krambu - 1 small
• Green Cardamom - 1 small
• Tomato - 1 small
• Baby Spinach - 1 box or Palak - 1 bunch

To Temper:

• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Star Anise - 1 small
• Bay leaf - 1
• Onion - 1

Toppings:

• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Cashews - 10

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How to cook Basmati Rice?:

1. Take 1 cup basmati rice, wash twice and soak for 20 to 30 mins.
2. In a pan, add 2 cups water, ½ tsp salt and cook covered in high flame.
3. Once it starts to rolling boil, add soaked basmati rice(drain water completely and then add) and cook closed for 2 to 3 mins, until it starts to boil again.
4. After 3 mins, simmer and continue to cook closed for 10 mins.
5. After 10 mins, rice should have been cooked well without any water in it. Switch off the stove.
6. I usually cook rice and start washing greens to make green paste. Once I make my paste & get it cooked, rice will be ready on time. I will just use the hot rice as such. No need to cool down the rice, if cooked in a pan as mentioned. Cooker-cooked rice has to be cooled down in a separate plate, before adding. I prefer cooking rice in a pan for lump-free, non-sticky & long grain rice.

How to make Spinach Biriyani?:

1. Wash spinach and keep ready.
2. Grind all items under “To grind” section(1 small piece Ginger without skin, 2 big Garlic cloves, 1 or 2 Green chilli, 10 stalks of Coriander with leaves, 10 big Mint leaves, 2 Small onions,  1 heaped tbsp Coconut, 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds/Sombu, 10 Peppercorns/Milagu, 1 small pinch Stone flower/Kalpaasi, 1 small piece Cinnamon/Pattai, 1 small Clove/Krambu, 1 small Green Cardamom, 1 small tomato) using big sized Mixie jar.
3. Grind well and then add half of spinach leaves. Grind again. If spinach didn’t grind, sprinkle 1 tbsp water and grind again.
4. Once ground to paste, do not transfer to bowl as other batch of spinach cannot be ground separately. To the same contents, add the other half of spinach and grind well. Grind to smooth paste without any bits. Green paste is ready.
5. In a pan, add 1 tsp ghee and fry cashews in low flame until light golden. Do not darken. Once fried, remove to a plate.
6. To the same pan, add 1 tbsp oil. Use groundnut or coconut or olive oil.
7. Once hot, add 1 small star anise and 1 bay leaf.
8. Cut 1 big onion lengthwise and add it along with a pinch of salt. Fry well until onions wilt and start to change brown color.
9. Remove the bay leaf and add the ground green paste to fried onions and fry till raw smell of the paste leaves, in medium flame.
10. Add 1/4 tsp salt and fry the paste. It will take 5+ mins.
11. Do not fry till the paste is too dry. Spinach will get cooked in just 5 mins. So, stop once the raw smell leaves and the paste is semi-dry.
12. Add cooked Basmati rice and mix very gently to coat all rice with green masala.
13. Add ghee-fried cashews and give a gentle mix. Scroll down to read tips.
14. Serve with Taro fry(link), grilled Salmon(link), grilled Pomfret(link), boiled egg, raitha or just papad.

Tips for Spinach Biriyani:

1. If you are in India, use palak. Else, use baby spinach, wherever available.
2. Spinach should be ground using the juice from tomato. If required, sprinkle water to grind, else do not add water.
3. You can fry onions till nicely browned(like served in Hyderabadi dum biriyani). Once fried, transfer it to another plate and lastly top it to the rice along with fried cashews. If you don’t have time, just fry till it starts to change color and just pour the green paste over it and continue as per the recipe.
4. Do not forget to remove the bay leaf before adding green paste to avoid paste being accumulated to the back of the leaf.
5. Do not skip stone flower/Kalpasi as it tenders great flavor to this recipe.
6. If you want to cook rice ahead, do not leave it in the hot pan as it might form clusters. Transfer to another container/plate and let it cool down.
7. If you want to cook rice in Pressure cooker, use only 1.5 cups of water and keep the rice and water inside a vessel closed with lid and pressure cook(pour some water in the cooker too to avoid burnt bottom) for 1 whistle in high flame and 5 mins in sim. Or you can just go for 2 to 3 whistles in low-medium flame. However you cook, let the pressure release naturally and immediately transfer the rice to a plate and let it cool down completely before mixing with green base.