My husband was given some Callaloo seeds for his birthday earlier this year. Callaloo is a little like colourful spinach. So today was the harvesting day. There weren’t too many recipes on the Internet for callaloo, but we found one and adapted it. This was simple, colourful and VERY fiery!

This is a vegetarian recipe, although we teamed it with a ready prepared Harissa Chicken Escalope.

If you enjoy a bit of fiery spice – then spinach would work just as well in this recipe.

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Serves: 2

Calories per serving: 400.4

Ingredients

Rice, Basmati, Brown, Dry – 140g

Olive Oil -1 Tbsp/15ml

Red or Brown Onions, Raw, Average – 50g

Garlic, Raw – 1 Clove/3g

Red Chilli Peppers, Raw – 2 Peppers/26g

Sauce, Soy, Dark – 1 Tbsp/15g (I use Liquid Aminos, as healthier)

Red Pepper, Raw – 1 Med/160g

Carrots, Raw – 67g

Callaloo or spinach, Raw – 30g

Courgette, Raw – 1 Courgette/224g

Sesame Oil – ½ Tsp/2.5ml

Method:

Cook the rice in advance and chill Make sure the rice is chilled so you’ll get a nice grainy fried rice at the end.

Prepare all your ingredients in advance (chop/dice) as this recipe cooks very fast.

Peel and finely dice onion, carrot, garlic, chilli pepper (remove seeds). Top and tail the courgette and cut into 1cm cubes. Roughly chop the callaloo.

Heat the olive oil on a medium flame in a wok or non-stick pan and add the garlic, onion, diced peppers, carrot and black pepper. Cook for 2-3 mins.

Then add the prepared (chopped) Jamaican Callaloo / spinach and diced chilli pepper. Remember to wash your hands after handling the chilli, don’t use any of the seeds or white membrane surrounding the seeds and tailor the amount used to your own tolerance.

Now add the chopped courgette, amino/soy sauce and sesame oil and cook for another 2-3 minutes. The callaloo will wilt.

Basically all you have to do now is add the rice, mix well and warm though and you’re done. You’ll notice that I did not add any salt as the soy sauce will add that extra sodium element. For a bit more flavour you can always add a tiny bit of freshly grated ginger at the start.

A delightful way to make use of leftover rice and for the doubters who think vegetarian food is bland and boring – guess again! This is a superb way to enjoy a quick meal with fresh ingredients (except the rice) and truly comforting.

Nutrition Data Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 400.4

Carbohydrate (g) 64.4

Fat (g) 11.4

Fibre (g) 5.0

Fruit & Veg 3.2

Protein (g) 10.9