Chickpea, Brown Rice & Spinach Pilaf

Here's another easy recipe that I made for lunch. It took an hour to cook, but that's only because I decided not to use quick brown rice. I used 2 cups of brown rice in place of the one pound of microwavable brown rice. Next time, I will definitely use a bigger pot! There wasn't even room for the spinach, so I had to split between two pots. Oy.

This recipe appealed to me at first because of the way it looked and then when I read the ingredients, I fell in love with it even more. It's quite a colorful dish as there's the light brown from the rice, the bright green from the spinach, and the deep, dark color from the raisins. The textures are quite amazing, too, and I especially love the sweet bites from the raisins.



Chickpea, Brown Rice & Spinach Pilaf
From nettsu

- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 x 250g packets microwave brown rice [I went for 2 cups brown rice]
- 15 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- 120g baby spinach leaves
- 1/2 cup raisins

1. Heat the oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until the onion is softened.
2. Add the rice, chickpeas and stock, bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover & simmer for 5 minutes or until the rice is cooked through.
3. Remove the pan from heat, stir in spinach and raisins. Cover, stand for 5 minutes to wilt spinach slightly, then serve.