Popeye Pulao and spiced aromatic spinach rice by Indian cook Mallika Basu

Pulao is moreish, fluffy aromatic rice spiked with subtle whole spices. This version with chopped spinach is versatile enough to add interest as part of an extravagant feast or a meal-in-one served with not much more than a dollop of yoghurt and spoon of pickle.

I came up with this recipe as a sneaky way to feed my kids spinach, alongside retro cartoons, and hence its apt christening and the optional use of a green chilli. My quick tip is to use cubes of frozen chopped or leafy spinach, bags of which are always in my freezer in abundance. If you prefer fresh spinach, by all means go ahead and use it but don’t hold the washing and chopping against me.

Serves 2

• 1 cup uncooked Basmati rice

• 3 cubes/75gm frozen spinach (125gm fresh spinach)

• 1 small green chilli

• 1 fat clove garlic

• Whole spices: 1 star anise, 1 bay leaf, 1 inch stick cinnamon, 1 black cardamom

• 1 tbsp oil

• Warm water

• 1 tsp salt

• Mint leaves to garnish (optional)

First place the rice in a sieve and wash it thoroughly under a cold tap until the water runs clear. Next, peel and finely mince the garlic and the chilli. If you’re using fresh spinach, remove the hard stalks and chop it finely now.

Now, bring the oil to heat on high in a medium sized saucepan. When it starts sizzling around a wooden spoon, gently drop in the whole spices. As they sizzle up, stir in the garlic and the chilli and immediately after, the frozen spinach or the chopped spinach.

Stir the spinach until it softens. Then mix in the washed rice with the salt. As the rice turns translucent, add just less than two cups of warm water, say one and seven/eighths of a cup (not trying to be difficult, promise!). Stir through once, and bring back to a rapid boil.

When the rice starts bubbling, lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. When the time is up, move the pan over to a cold hob without taking the lid off. Leave the rice to keep cooking in the steam trapped in the pan for another 10 minutes. If you touch it now, it will break, as there is still a fair bit of moisture in the pan.

Finally, tip it into a serving dish, or your bowls, and fluff up with a fork before eating.

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