This Golden Rice Pie is, as you’d expect, a little bit chewy along the edges – in the best way. The lemon-yogurt in the rice, and the exotic spice combination in the spinach, make this dish quite distinctive. Plus, it has a stunning visual appeal.
Ingredients for 8 or more servings
3 cups brown basmati rice
4½ cups water
2 Tbs olive oil
2 cups minced onion
1 cup minced carrots
1 cup minced celery
2½ tsp salt, divided
2 Tbs minced garlic
2 tsp cumin or Garam masala
1/2 tsp coriander or caraway seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pound spinach
Butter
2 cups plain yogurt
Zest from one medium lemon
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 large egg
White or black pepper, to taste
Pine nuts or sesame seeds, for garnish
Pomegranate seeds, parsley, or mint, for garnish
How to do it:
- Place the rice and water into a medium-sized saucepot. Cover it, bring it to a boil over high heat (which takes about 10 minutes), turn the heat down to its lowest setting, and simmer the rice until tender, about 27 minutes. Off heat, fluff the rice. Set aside.
Once the rice is in its simmering stage, watch carefully to make sure that it doesn’t boil over; check around 10 minutes in, and place the lid askew if it starts to. Once you get closer to the end of the cooking time, you can tighten the lid once again. Check in the last 2 minutes of cooking to make sure it’s not scorching on the bottom.
- While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a large casserole over medium-high heat. Add the veggies and ½-tsp salt, turn the flame to medium-low, and cook for 5 minutes. Cover the casserole, and continue cooking the veggies for 30 minutes. Add the garlic and spices, place the cover back on the pot, and cook for 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the spinach and ½-tsp salt to the pot, place the cover back on, and cook for 4 minutes. Remove the cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has boiled away, about 9 minutes. Off heat; set aside.
One nice-sized onion should produce two cups of mince. Pulsing the veggies in a food processor is probably the easiest way to mince them, even if you have to do so in as many as six batches. So long as the total measure is four cups, you could use any veggie or veggie combination you wish – including just onions. Since you’ve got the processor out, you might as well use it to mince the garlic, too (and damn right: two tablespoons is a hell of a lot of garlic).
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 2-quart casserole.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the yogurt, lemon zest and juice, egg, 1½ tsp salt, and lots of pepper until well blended. Add the rice and mix thoroughly. Press half of the rice into the bottom of the casserole in an even layer. Add the spinach mixture in another even layer. Press remaining rice on top into an even layer. Cover the casserole, and bake for 45 minutes. Move oven rack to lowest position, and continue baking for 10 more minutes. When it’s ready, it will be deeply golden around the edges, and pale gold on top.
It’s a little tricky to press the top rice layer into place without disturbing the lower layers. Start by spooning the rice as even as possible over the spinach mixture, then press down with the back or a silicone spatula. Once you’ve assembled the pie, it can be held, refrigerated, for quite some time. A refrigerated pie will need to have about 20 minutes added to its baking time.
- Let the pie rest on a wire rack, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Invert a serving plate atop the casserole, and quickly invert the whole thing. Remove the casserole and you should have a beautiful, fully-intact pie on your plate. Garnish and serve.
Notes:
Normally, you should be able to find brown basmati rice, in with the rest of the rice at a well-stocked grocery store. Could you do this with white rice? Almost certainly, if you can find it. If you can’t find brown basmati rice, I do have some leftover, and will trade it for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, or Clorox wipes.
If you’ve bought real, honest-to-goodness spinach that wasn’t pre-packaged, you’ll probably need to remove and discard the stems. If you’re using prepackaged spinach, this is almost certainly not necessary.
This dish has an old-school vegetarian vibe that I like quite a bit. That said, I wouldn’t mind a gussied-up version. Maybe some feta cheese? Or more likely, some beautifully melty cheese. Maybe sun-dried tomatoes? Maybe a sauce to be served over it, like the dressing I used for this salad?
The backstory:
This is a Mollie Katzen recipe.
This recipe comes from Vegetable Heaven[1], by Mollie Katzen. I’ve modified it to suit what I happened to have on hand in my kitchen, re-written the directions in my own words (because in my day job I’m an academic), and added my own notes on the process (because again, academic).
One of my closest friends gave me The Moosewood Cookbook (also by Katzen), which is one of the pioneering books of vegetarian cooking in the US. It’s the first cookbook I ever owned, and was the launch pad for my interest in cooking. I wasn’t interested in pursuing vegetarianism, and my friend wasn’t suggesting it, but what he did suggest is that it was a great book for a beginner cook. It truly is, and I would still recommend it for that reason. I also recommend college, and close friendships. But I digress. After eating my way through Moosewood from cover to cover, in order, I bought Vegetable Heaven and darted through its recipes in a more capricious kind of way, feeling like I was now some kind of smarty pants who knew his way around a cookbook. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had these fantastic cookbooks off the shelf, so putting this pie together was quite a nostalgic experience.
[1] Katzen, Mollie. 1997. “Golden Rice Pie.” Vegetable Heaven (Hyperion) 126.
Golden Rice Pie with Spinach Filling
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man!, unless otherwise indicated. Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Mollie Katzen did not threaten to send Cross-Fit ninjas to take me down if I added bacon to this dish, so I can’t really explain to you why I didn’t. I mean, I had some in the fridge.
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Wow this looks incredible. I love everything about it. I’ve been cooking Indian for a long time and I’ve never come across anything like this. Oh, I guess, it’s Indian inspired. Duh. Well, it’s fabulous.
Mimi recently posted…Cuban Black Bean Soup
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wow talking about the creative way to prepare rice pie!! I usually go for the crusty sides first :-)) This one goes to my long to make list from you, Jeff.
angiesrecipes recently posted…Peanut Butter Bacon Fat Spelt Cookies
Enjoy!
This looks like a perfect “let’s cook during quarantine” recipe, especially since I have every ingredient in the house. Why I picked up brown Basmati at the store I’m not sure — at least, I wasn’t sure until now. I can’t wait to try it.
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What a fortunate coincidence!
Since I eat rice about four times a week you ‘had’ me at ‘brown rice’ ! What a different and very interesting recipe !! love the amount of onions, love the somewhat fusion spicing . . . have to think about it . . . but . . . when one can safely have friends en masse to dinner again, almost feel I could serve this as a first course . . . well, there is a wee while to think about it as a side also . . . best . . .
Yum, that looks super good, like a cake! Such a perfect meal for a crowd☺
Thanks, Natalia.
You know, Jeff. You dropped the ball here. Bacon. That’s all I have to say about that.
Seriously, though, this is a pretty cool recipe concept. It’s like a stuffed savory rice krispie treat.
David @ Spiced recently posted…Cinnamon Walnut Babka
Yes, I never thought of it as a rice krispie treat! And yes, so in need of bacon.
Wow, this takes me back, Jeff! I used to go to the Moosewood Restaurant when I was in college in Upstate New York. Mollie was a graduate of my college and it was fun to visit her there. I had the entire Moosewood set of books — not vegetarian, either, but it was fun to use them back then.
The dish looks amazing and I definitely want to try it. It’s like the Iranian tahdig meets Indian cuisine!
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How cool! I’ve always wanted to visit that restaurant. What great memories those must be.
They are – making this tomorrow for dinner. Can’t wait!
Let me know if you like it!
But if you don’t like it, keep it to yourself. Just kidding. I want know either way. I did like it, but I’m a huge, huge fan of rice. Love it. I thought it needed a little more pizzazz, though, and I couldn’t figure out what kind of pizzazz if might mostly like.
The thought of those crispy edges sold me!! What delicious comfort food—which we all need right now!
Amen!
I love this recipe and I will try it for sure!!
Thanks!
Cool recipe. The _Moosewood Cookbook_ was an early cookbook acquisition for me, too. And I’ve been to the restaurant — I used to publish college texts, so I’ve visited most major universities. So I ate there once years ago on a visit to Ithaca. Anyway, good stuff — thanks.
John / Kitchen Riffs recently posted…Irish Leek and Oatmeal Soup
That’s a great memory, John. I believe it’s still open. One of these days, I’d like to make a pilgrimage there.
I love this recipe. It looks so yummy , I think i will try this sometime soon!
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That looks fabulous! I would eat all around the edges and my husband would complain that I ate the best parts 😉
Dahn recently posted…Port Wine Braised Short Ribs
Thanks! Mine could’ve been cooked longer – I think you could get tons of crispiness out of it.
What’s not to like about your Golden Rice Pie with Spinach Filling? I too love the fusion of flavors and if it has rice, I’m in. I’m not a spinach lover but will have to give this a try. Who knows, it could change my outlook on Popeye’s favorite food.
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You know, this would work with any kind of hearty greens, Ron, if you happen to have others that you do like.
Jeff, this recipe has been added to my “to-do” list. I can’t wait to try this rice pie! My picky kids love rice and I’ll bet they’ll eat this up too. I giggled when you were willing to barter rice for Clorox wipes and tp. Fortunately, we are stocked on rice, but people went crazy around here and it took me 3 days to find a bag of flour!! Great recipe, thanks for sharing! Take care 🙂
The grocery stores are so crazy! However, I’d read that if you find something not stocked, you should check back, because they often re-stock overnight, and I found that to be true. I went to the store yesterday, and found all kinds of fresh bread, which last time I was there, was nowhere to be seen. However, I suggest that you go to the store at a time when you’d expect to find very few people there – like the crack of dawn – because it’s very hard to keep a distance in the aisles, and you wind up touching all kinds of things.
This looks amazing Jeff! You had me when I saw golden rice! Anything pie with rice – is my favorite. I hope you are staying safe and healthy during this uncertain time.
Thanks, and you, too!
I can imagine the chewy edges and I have brown basmati rice! So I may no longer have to imagine… GREG
Take care, Greg!
Oooh those edges look so perfect! I definitely want to make this! Need to get just a few ingredients more, and I do love the idea of adding some cheese of some sort. Beautiful dish!
Laura recently posted…Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts
I hope that one of the ingredients you need isn’t rice, because that’s been very hard to come by lately!
Love how you’ve used brown rice here Jeff. It’s so underated and absolutely excellent for baking with. This is defintely a recipe for my household. I should be able to freeze any leftovers too. Thanks!
I’m sure you could freeze it. And yes, I love brown rice!
Pretty sure this is my favorite recipe I’ve ever seen on your site. LOVE it and will be making it for sure during this time at home. Upon my first glance, I thought it was some sort of Ramen Burger. Ha! I have all sorts of rice stocked, including brown basmati. Yay. Can’t wait. Thank you and stay well. ~Valentina
I’m glad you like it! Stay well!
Dear Jeff, this Golden Rice Pie is unlike anything I have ever cooked with rice – I love the layering here and the crispy edges and the many delicious ingredients which make up this extraordinary looking dish!
I do know Mollie Katzen though and her Moosewood cookbook – have heard so many good things about her and her books!
All the best!
Andrea
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It’s really something unique.