Spinach and rice, spinaq me oriz in Albanian or pirincli ispanak in Turkish, was one of my favourite dishes as a kid. My mom often makes it with paprika and veal meat, but I prefer this version I am sharing with you. My daughters love this dish, which makes me happy as it is easy to make and it is good for them.
I make this with, and sometimes without ground beef. My kids like it both ways. I usually have extra cooked up ground meat in the fridge to add to dishes such as this, so it works out perfectly for me.
What you will need:
- 2 bags of spinach
- 1 shallot or small onion chopped
- 1/4- 1/2 cup rice (your preference for more or less rice)
- 1 and 1/2 to 2 tsp tomato paste
- 1 and 1/2 to 2 tsp red pepper paste (or a red pepper chopped up)*
- 2-3 tbsp cooked crumbled ground beef
Rinse spinach, and chop up the spinach. In a large pot add some olive oil, spinach, tomato and pepper paste, ground beef and rice, add about 2 and 1/2 to 3 cups of water. Season with salt.
Cover and simmer on low- medium heat until rice is cooked. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil before serving. Traditionally eaten with yogurt on the side.
*If you do not have any pepper paste or red pepper, you may use more tomato paste.
[…] may have seen my spinach-and-rice post, this is similar but this is with orzo. My mom and grandma always make spinach and rice with […]