Chard Cooked in Olive Oil with Veg and Rice; Zeytinyağlı Pazı

Name: Chard Cooked in Olive Oil with Veg and Rice; Zeytinyağlı Pazı
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 medium red or yellow onion, finely chopped; 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (use more if you like it spicy); 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon double concentrated tomato paste; 230 g (8 oz) tin chopped tomatoes; 450g (1 lb) chard, cleaned, halved lengthways and roughly chopped into 1 cm (½ in) pieces; 85 g (3 oz/scant ½ cup) long-grain rice, rinsed; 460 ml (16 fl oz/scant 2 cups) hot water; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; To serve (optional); plain yoghurt (or plant-based alternative); drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

This is a lovely and easy dish to enjoy pazı (chard), grown mostly in the northwest, Black Sea, Marmara, Aegean and the Mediterranean regions. Its gently tart flavour is delicious here. These large leaves are also used for making pazı sarması, rolled chard leaves with aromatic rice and sometimes with fresh Turkish curd cheese (lor peyniri). My family also loves this dish hot on cold days, with a dollop of yoghurt and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over. Prepare ahead and variations: This dish is great to prepare ahead – in fact, leftovers taste even better the next day as the flavours develop, a characteristic of zeytinyağlı dishes. You can use spinach or large leafy collard greens instead of chard. You can also use bulgur (not gluten-free) or quinoa (gluten-free) instead of rice. Serving suggestions: Serve crusty bread or my gluten-free Corn Bread from SEBZE cookery book on the side to mop up the delicious juices, if you like.

Updated at: Sun, 20 Apr 2025 08:04:12 GMT