Buttery Basmati Rice with Spinach and Onion

Once a month we all try to gather around the stove—close friends who have a passion for food, fellowship, and frolic. There are two rules: We only cook the Indian way, and this is an all-men gathering (no spouses or partners invited). This is how we bond, talk, and just be. We chip in to prep, cook, clean, eat, and of course drink. When it is time to make the rice, we all turn to our resident physician, Jeff Mandel, an extraordinary internist and a warm, caring man, who happens to make perf