The grilled halloumi carves out a place in this gourmet and creamy dish that will make many happy.

1. Using a sieve, rinse the rice under cold water and drain.

2. In a medium saucepan, place the rice and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve.

3. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the onion. Using a fine grater, grate the ginger and garlic. Dice the halloumi.

4. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 5 ml (1 tsp) of oil over medium-high heat. Cook the halloumi, 2 or 3 minutes, until golden brown, stirring a few times. Reserve in a bowl.

5. Add the rest of the oil (5 ml / 1 tsp) and the onion to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes or until the onion is lightly browned.

6. Add diced tomatoes, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, ginger and garlic. Mix together. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. Roughly chop the spinach.

8. Stir in the cream and bring to a boil.

9. Add spinach and halloumi. To mix together.

10. Serve with rice.

Keeps for 4 days in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer.

Chef secrets:

• Saag can be made with several types of leafy green vegetables. Spinach, kale, Swiss chard or collard greens will all be perfect in this dish. Use what you have on hand!

• This recipe is inspired by saag paneer, a dish of Indian origin. Traditionally paneer cheese is used which can be hard to find. We therefore replaced it with halloumi, which is easily found in the fine cheese department.

This recipe is courtesy of Geneviève O'Gleman.

Photo credit: Sylvie Li