Spinach in Olive Oil
Spinach cooked with rice; with garlic yoghurt or lemon, warm or cold.
- Time
- 35 minutes
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Easy
- Cuisine
- Turkish
Spinach in olive oil is a less simple recipe than its name suggests: the three spoonfuls of rice in it are not a filler but a technical choice. Spinach releases most of its volume as water while it cooks; the rice takes up that water, stops the dish going soupy, and leaves a coherent texture once cooled.
Although it is thought of as a winter dish, spinach's real season in Türkiye runs from late autumn into early spring. Warm with garlic yoghurt, or cold with lemon — it works like two different dishes, and both are correct.
Directions
- Wash the spinach thoroughly, changing the water three times so no grit remains.
- Heat the olive oil in a pan and soften the onion.
- Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes, then the grated tomato.
- Add the spinach and cook uncovered until it collapses (5-6 minutes).
- Add the salt, pepper and hot water, then cover.
- Cook over low heat for 15 minutes, until the rice is tender.
- Serve warm with garlic yoghurt, or cold with a squeeze of lemon.
Tips & storage
Wash three times, no shortcuts. Grit collects at the base of the leaf and does not come out in a single rinse. Changing the water three times is the only thing standing between you and grit on the plate.
Lid off at the start. Begin with the lid on and the spinach steams in its own moisture and turns grey. Lid off until the volume drops, then on.
Yoghurt or lemon? Garlic yoghurt is for the warm version. If you are eating it cold, leave out the yoghurt and squeeze lemon instead — cold yoghurt sets the oil.
A note on oxalic acid. Spinach is high in oxalates, which slightly reduce calcium absorption. Eating it with yoghurt is therefore a pairing that is established for nutritional reasons as well as for taste.
Storage. Two days in the fridge. Because it contains rice, do not keep it longer, and do not reheat and re-chill it.
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