Sprouts Spinach Pulav

I made some whole moong bean sprouts salad, for evening snack. My mom always used to make this sprouts salad for our snack, which we call mulai kattina pachai payiru in Tamil. This simple salad with a touch of lime juice will be a great refreshment in the evenings, when back from college.

Coming back to the sprouts, I had some leftover sprouts after making the salad, I then thought of making some healthy rice for dinner using it. So comes the Sprouts Spinach pulav. I had some frozen spinach left behind in my freezer, so combined it with the sprouts and made this healthy green pulav.

Things needed
Basmathi rice - 1 Cup
Water - 1 1/2 Cups
Whole moong bean sprouts - 1 Cup
Spinach - 1/2 Cup (Chopped)
Bay leaf - 2 nos.
Cloves - 3 nos.
Cinnamon stick - 1 no.
Green chilly - 2 nos.
Cashew nuts - for garnishing (Optional)
Coriander leaves - 1/4 Cup (Chopped)

To grind
Ginger - Medium sized piece (Chopped)
Garlic pearls - 5 nos.
Cardamon - 1 no.
Green chilly - 1 no.

Soak basmathi rice for at least 20 minutes. Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add green chilly, cashews, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf. Saute them for 2 minutes, then add the chopped onions and cook it until it turns pink.

Add the sprouts and fry it for 2 minutes. Now add the chopped spinach to it. Meanwhile grind all the ingredients under 'to grind' into fine paste. Add this to the sprouts-spinach mixture and cook until the raw smell of ginger-garlic paste vanishes.

Drain water from the soaked rice and add it to the cooker. Fry the rice with the masala for few minutes. Now add water to the rice mixture and adjust for salt.

Bring this mixture to boil. Close the cooker and turn the heat to low. Pressure cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the stove and let the cooker stand on the same heat for 20 minutes.

After 30 minutes of cooking, your plate will be filled with simple, healthy delicious Sprouts Spinach pulav.  This pulav tastes great on its own, we enjoyed it with peas beans curry and potato chips.
 
This recipe goes to Green Gourmet event organised by Preeti Kashyap