Spinach Rice/Palak Rice with Green Chicken Curry

Spinach (Palak) Rice and Green Chicken Curry (6-7 people depending on their appetites)

If you fancy the Recipe below and find it too tedious to try and want to place an order instead, please drop me a comment below with your mobile number and I will call you. That's only if you live in Dubai :)

I recently bought some Spinach, trying to eat healthy ;). Usually I prepare Aloo Palak which is basically Spinach and Potatoes sautéed in powdered spices. Since the spinach welts and a big bunch ends up to almost nothing I thought of doing something different like adding it to Rice to sort of make it like Pulav.

Of all the vegetables my hubby eats (and it is so difficult to get him to eat any) Spinach is my safest option.

Make this for your loved one’s lunch box or for a dinner party. Either way you are bound to impress.

You may need something to accompany the Rice like either Yoghurt Raita or just plain Yoghurt or Pickle. I decided to go with green Chicken curry for substance.

So for the Rice you will need 2 cups of Basmati Rice soaked in water. Soak it for about an hour or so. You also need - 

1.       2 bunches of Spinach

2.       Half a bunch of Coriander Leaves (Dhaniya)

3.       Few Mint Leaves (Pudina)

4.       4-5 Cloves of Garlic

5.       2 inch piece of Ginger

6.       1 Green Chilli (you can remove the seeds for less heat)

Blend the above ingredients with a little water to form a paste. We are now going to cook this paste for which you will need –

7.       2 tbsp of Vegetable Oil

8.       4-5 Black Peppercorns

9.       ½ tsp of whole Cumin seeds (Jeera)

10.    2 Cloves

11.    1 Bay Leaf

12.    1 tsp of Red Chilli Powder

13.    1 tsp Coriander Powder (Dhaniya)

14.    ½ tsp Turmeric Powder (Haldi)

15.    1 medium Red Onion

16.    1 small Tomato

17.    Salt

Heat up 2 tbsp of Oil in a wide deep non-stick vessel. The reason why I specify wide is so that the Rice has space to breathe. I am not sure if it’s true but I have just formed this opinion upon numerous tries, sometimes ending up with sticky rice and no one likes to eat sticky Pulav.

Add the Peppercorns, Cumin, Cloves, Bay Leaf, Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder and Turmeric Powder and fry for a minute to release the flavour from the spices. Add the onion and Tomato and fry for another minute. Add the Spinach paste and fry for a good 5 minutes.

Add the soaked rice along with 4 cups of water and salt and cook on a slow flame until the rice is cooked. Avoid stirring the rice; you can fluff it with a fork if you like.

There you have it - delicious Spinach or Palak Rice.

Green Chicken

The chicken is a little easier. You take 1 whole chicken cut into parts and marinate it with a green Masala (see below). Once marinated for about an hour or so, fry the chicken in a vessel (not a frying pan as it may be too shallow) for a few minutes until the Masala is cooked and then add about 2 cups of water if you want some gravy. Let it simmer for about an hour until the chicken is cooked.

If you do not want gravy then you can just cook the chicken without adding any water on a slow flame for about an hour until the chicken is done.

Don’t forget to add salt.

To make the Masala, blend all the below ingredients to make a thick smooth paste.

1 Onion

1 cup grated fresh Coconut

1-2 bunch(es) of Coriander Leaves (Dhaniya)

Few Mint Leaves (Pudina)

1 Green Chilli

4-5 Cloves of Garlic

1 inch piece of Ginger

3-4 Black Peppercorns

1 inch stick of Cinnamon

2-3 Cloves

A splash of Soya Sauce

That’s all for today folks!

Happy Cooking!

Recipe for Chicken Stew with Appams (Indian Pancakes)

Hi guys – I am blogging after a while as ... well I have no excuse, I have just been lazy!

Yesterday I tried my hand at Chicken stew with Appam (pancakes made with Rice and Coconut). Now this is essentially a South-Indian meal so I won’t say my recipe is perfect but it is safe to say that it is delicious. And I also must admit that I did browse through various recipes before trying this one out just to get an idea of the ingredients involved.  

The recipe below is good for 4 people. If you are cooking for more people, then you could just double the quantity of the ingredients.

For the Chicken stew you will need –

1.        one whole Chicken quite obviously, or Chicken parts if you prefer

2.        4-5 tbsp of Oil (any vegetable oil)

3.        1 tbsp of Coconut Oil (I used Parachute which comes in a blue plastic bottle and is available in most grocery stores eg Carrefour)

4.        a small stick of Cinnamon

5.        2 dried Bay leaves

6.        2 Cardamom pods

7.        5-6 black Peppercorns

8.        1 large chopped red Onion (if you don’t have red even white or yellow Onions will do)

9.        5-6 cloves of chopped Garlic

10.     a little chopped Ginger (about an inch long)

11.     1 tsp red Chilli powder

12.     ½ tsp Turmeric (Haldi) powder

13.     1 tsp Coriander (Dhaniya) powder

14.     1 medium chopped Tomato

15.     1 medium sized tin of Coconut Milk

16.     1 chopped Potato

17.     1 chopped Carrot

18.     1 cup of Water

For the garnishing you will need –

19.     a few curry leaves (Karipatta)

20.     a pinch of dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi) (This is optional)

21.     a few Coriander leaves (Dhaniya)

22.     a squeeze of 1 small Lime

23.     Salt (as much or as little as you like)

24.     a pinch of Pepper

Now to make the all important Appam you will need –

25.     1 cup raw rice soaked in a cup of Water (I used Basmati rice but not the very expensive kind)

26.     1 tbsp cooked rice

27.     about 3/4^th of a cup of fresh grated Coconut

28.     a pinch of Baking Soda

29.     1 tsp of Salt

30.     2 tsp of Sugar

31.     1-2 cups of water depending upon the consistency achieved

32.     Oil for frying

I know it looks like a tonne of ingredients but trust me it is worth the little bit of effort.

To start with the stew, take a deep dish vessel/pot. Add the vegetable and Coconut Oil. Now add the Cinnamon, Bay Leaves, Cardamom and Peppercorns and fry. After about a minute add the chopped Onion, Garlic and Ginger and stir. Now add the Chilli powder, Turmeric powder and Coriander powder and continue frying for about another minute. Add the chopped Tomato and stir. Let it fry for about another minute so that all the spices are cooked well.  Now add the Chicken pieces and let it brown a bit. Then add the Coconut Milk, a cup of Water, chopped Potato and Carrots and cook on a low flame for about an hour or so until the Chicken is completely cooked.

To garnish add ingredients no. 19-24.

Now let’s move on to the Appam

The Appam batter needs to be mixed a day before so that it ferments a bit.

So one day before soak a cup of raw Rice for a few hours in a cup of Water. Blend the raw Rice with the cooked Rice and Coconut in a Blender with half a cup of Water. Blend it well so that there are no lumps. Now keep this mixture in a container, overnight, in a cool room and let it ferment. Put it in the Refrigerator the next morning.

Take it out of the Refrigerator just when you want to eat them. Add about a cup or two of Water, Salt, Sugar and Baking Soda and give it a good stir. You should aim to achieve a pancake batter like consistency (not too thick and not too thin).

Now to fry the Appam, take a tsp of oil in a non-stick pan, pour a ladle of batter into the pan and fry until you see the edges browning. It should take about 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, if you like you can flip it and fry it for about half a minute on the reverse to ensure it is cooked. Cover the pan to speed up the frying process. And voila you should get a tasty Appam. Continue the process until the batter is over. I didn’t count but I think I got around 9 or 10 Appams.

 I didn’t click any photos so I don’t have anything to show you what it looks like, but to give you a general idea they look very similar to white thin pancakes.

Let me know if you try out the Recipe. I would love to hear what you thought of it. All the ingredients listed above should be available in either Lulu or Carrefour supermarkets.

Xiao Wei Yang - Part 2 (Al Rigga, Dubai)

I have blogged about Xiao Wei Yang before and this is now part 2. Xiao Wei is definitely my favourite hot pot restaurant in Dubai (not that I have eaten at all of them but just saying). Hot Pot is also known as Shabu Shabu which I learnt from Wikipedia means thinly sliced beef boiled in water or stock along with vegetables.

So if you read my earlier blog it explains what the whole concept is and what you should do in such a restaurant etc etc. The earlier blog talks about the joint in International City but this time we tried the one just outside the Salah El Din metro station.

In this post I am just going to add a few pictures and also mention about the spicy prawns which you must order on the side (didn't mange to take a photo). Unfortunately you have will have to put in a little effort in taking off the shells but it's worth it.

Note: you might have to specify that you want bowls instead of plates (just easier to slurp all that delicious stock from).


 For all that good stuff that you can see in the photos (excluding the spicy prawns) plus 2 bottles of iced teas we paid a total of AED 160 (good for 2-3 persons).

So I suggest you stop reading this and be on your way to this little heaven of a place.

NB - no prior reservations required.