Spinach & Garlic Rice

I've featured this rice a couple of times on the blog already and I think I shared a slightly different version in a recipe card previously but this is how I've been making it lately. It's a rice that was inspired by a curry place I went to when I was visiting my cousin in LA a few years ago.

Ingredients [serves 4]:
1½ cups jasmine rice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water

2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ package frozen spinach (5 oz.)
2 teaspoons salt

The first step is to defrost the spinach. I like to run it under warm water just to break it up a little and then I let it sit for a few minutes. Once it's soft, I squeeze out the excess water.

While the spinach is defrosting, make rice. Pour some jasmine rice, a little salt, and water into a pot and pop it onto the hob over low heat. Allow the water to come to a boil then put on the lid and let the rice cook through, about 10 minutes.

When the rice is close to done, get started on the garlic part of the spinach & garlic rice.

Grab a big skillet and add butter and garlic. Turn the heat to medium and gently fry the garlic until it's golden brown.

Add in the defrosted and drained spinach and salt and stir to coat the spinach in butter.

Add the rice to the skillet and stir to combine.

Then, it's time to serve. Instead of dirtying another dish and instead of presenting the rice in the giant skillet, I put the rice back into the saucepan.

I made the rice to serve alongside some cheese-filled meatballs with barbecue sauce. I actually used leftover barbecue sauce from the Korean-style baby back ribs that I made earlier in the week.

Because we always need some green, I made some roasted broccoli (except I omitted the sesame oil and used olive oil instead).

The rice is so delicious and flavorful and so much more fun than regular, bland and plain rice and it looks really pretty on the plate. I love the toasty garlicky smell and the texture that the tender spinach adds. I've also got to give the meatballs an honorable mention because they were awesomely tender and delicious.

Here's the recipe page: