Cooked Spinach & Rice

Serves: 2 | Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 40 minutes

Main Ingredients:

• 1 small/medium onion
• 200g bag of Spinach
• Approx 150g lean minced beef (I use 5% fat if possible) 
• 2 portions of long grain rice

Spices & condiments:

• 2-3 tbsp sunflower oil (you can use olive oil if you don’t have sunflower oil)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon Mixed Spice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 cups water
• Optional: chopped coriander

For serving:

• Lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons per person of full fat greek yogurt

Method:

1. Chop the onion into small pieces (this can be done roughly).
2. Wash the spinach and have it ready on the side.
3. In a large pot, warm up the oil on a medium heat and sautee the onions.
4. Once they’ve softened and started browning, add the minced meat and cook it.
5. Once the meat has been cooked through, add the spinach in batches and mix it, so that it starts to wilt.
6. Once all the spinach has been added, mix and keep on the heat whilst it all wilts.
7. As it is wilting, add the salt, pepper and Mixed Spice and mix it all up.
8. Crush the garlic in and mix.
9. Add 2 tbsp of lemon juice and mix.
10. Add 2 cups water (to cover everything) and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 
11. Optional: if you’re having the coriander, sautee it in a separate pan with 2 garlic cloves and add to spinach at the end, just before serving.
12. In the meantime, make the rice portions and serve with the spinach, some lemon juice and/or yogurt.

This Recipe’s Story

This recipe has its origins in the Middle East and is a delicious and simple mid-week meal. It’s an easy and nutritious dish and because it only uses a small amount of meat, it is also cost effective. As with all the recipes on here, this one too has been adapted to suit my skill, time and willingness.

For example, often the meat is sauteed in a separate pan and added to the spinach (usually because it’s a bit fatty), but as I buy lean minced meat, I make it all in the same pot and it tastes good. Also, the rice that should go with this dish, is in fact long grain rice with vermicelli noodles (recipe on this to come soon!), but as it takes a bit longer, I often go with basmati rice. Finally, cooked coriander on top: not sure where you stand on this, but I’m not the biggest fan. I’ll eat it if it’s there but I’ll happily skip it if I have to make it myself, so I’ve added it in here as an optional ingredient and step.

Otherwise enjoy this one: yummy and healthy!