Brown Rice and Spinach Pilaf

Eggs are my new favourite thing. Especially poached eggs, nestled atop a bowl of rice. I like to break open the yolk and let the insides trickle down. Recently it's been a stir fry, full of garlic, ginger and chilli and topped with plenty of toasted cashews. I came across this simple comforting bowl in Waitrose Food Illustrated and couldn't resist. Delicately spiced with cumin, cinnamon and cardamon, with plenty of spinach stirred through at the last minute and topped with toasted pine nuts.

Originally intended to be bulghar wheat pilaf, I reached into the grain drawer only to find I'd used all my bulghar wheat already. So brown rice it was, a little disappointing, only in the sense that brown rice takes about 3 times as long to cook and we were impatient for our dinner. Either grain would work well as they each lend a certian nuttiness to the end result.

Ingredients

serves 4
25g butter
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 large onion , finely chopped
4 cardamom pods , bruised
1tsp cumin
1tsp cinnamon
250g brown basmati rice
500ml hot, vegetable stock
200g spinach, finely chopped
50g pine nuts
4 eggs, poached

• Heat a frying pan (that has a lid), as you do so, toast the pine nuts and remove.
• Add the butter and a little oil. Once bubbling add the onions and garlic and fry for 5-10mins until brown.
• Add the spices and cook for a few more minutes until they begin to smell delicious.
• Tip in the rice and stir well. Pour in the hot stock and bring to the boil.
• Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 20-30mins until the rice is cooked, adding more water if necessary.
• Stir through the spinach, cover and leave to sit for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted. Season well and stirin the pine nuts.
• Serve topped with a poached egg.

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Red Rice Stir Fry with Poached Eggs

We get our vegetable box on a Friday and if we get cabbage and potatoes, I've taken to making bubble and squeak for brunch at the weekends. A spoon (or more) of baked beans on the side and a poached egg, what could be better? Now, this isn't bubble and squeak in the strictest sense, I literally peel and boil and rice potatoes, then stir fry shredded cabbage in butter and garlic and mix together. A bit of a hassle, but so good.

As I'm still trying (somewhat in vain) to eat a bit lighter, I started looking for inspiration for alternatives. 101cookbooks is always a good place to start for healthy recipes and I soon decided to try some of the more intresting grains out there. Off I went to Waitrose after work and came home clutching a bag of red and wild rice.

This isn't a brunch dish as sorts, but I did eat it about 1, which is brunch time in my book. Red rice is similar to brown rice in nuttiness, it's ability to fil you up and the length of time it takes to cook. I stirfried some cabbage with garlic and chilli, added the cooked rice, a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. Top with a poached egg, some finely diced red onion and toasted cashew nuts. Simple, tasty and healthy.

Below is the version I made for Pete, I made an egg omelette first, shredded it and added it the rice instead of a poached egg.


Ingredients.

4 eggs
200g Red rice (or brown rice), cooked
75g cashew nuts
3tbsp sunflower oil
2 red chillis, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
2tsp soy sauce
2tsp sesame oil
1 red onion, finely diced

• Poach the eggs using Delia's method.
  
• Meanwhile, heat the cashew nuts in a dry frying pan until golden. Remove and roughly chop.
• Now add the oil to the pan. Add the chilli and garlic and fry for a minute.
• Add the cabbage and fry for a few minutes until softened.
• Now add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir in the onions and chopped cashews and serve.

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Brown Rice Salad

This was more Saturday morning cooking, but this time I was definitely trying to be healthy. Not in any worthy sense of the word, I just wanted to eat something that was of course tasty but felt like it was doing me good and didn't send me back to bed for a nap.

My main inspiration was this recipe for Tuktuk salad from Waitrose Food Illustrated (my new food magazine of choice). But as these things so often go, I was limited by ingredients and ended up going down my own path, albeit still a tasty one.

The base is brown rice which I always find works best in salads when its been allowed to cool first. Some lentils for texture and added health benefits although chickpeas would be good too. Plenty of red onion and garlic or try spring onions. Some toasted seeds for crunch, but toasted cashews would be equally delicious and a simple zingy salad dressing. I like to put parsley on everything if I can and the freshness works well here, but you could try coriander or mint.

The great thing about a salad like this is that it will hold up well for a few days, have it with a dollop of hummus in a pitta or with grilled fish or on its own for lunch and like me, feel very virtuous.

Ingredients

Serves 4

125g puy lentils, cooked
250g brown rice, cooked
2 red onions, finely diced
5 tomatoes, diced
200g frozen peas, defrosted
100g sunflower seeds, toasted
1 small bunch parsley, chopped

Dressing
1 ½ tsp dijon mustard
1 ½ tbsp cider vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil

This is really just an assembly job, all the work goes into preparing the ingredients.

Mix all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the dressing and pour over. Mix well and check for seasoning.

Make sure your cooked brown rice is completely cool before assembling the salad.

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Parsnip and Leek Risotto

Running with the idea of cooking parsnips in long thin strips with or without bacon like this recipe, I came up with this risotto, utilising some leeks lurking in the fridge. I'm not normally a fan of risotto, but this was perfect, rich and comforting. I tried to use as much parsnip and leek as possible to give this some redeeming features to go along with the butter and cheese, in reality it means it's not as heavy and stodgy and you'd expect.

Ingredients

Serves 4

6 rashers streaky bacon, finely sliced
a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary, finely chopped
300g leeks, finely sliced
500g parsnips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
300g arborio risotto rice
125ml white wine
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
50g butter
100g grated parmesan

• Heat a large saucepan and drop in the bacon along with a glug of oil and the thyme. Fry on a high heat for a few mins, add the parsnip and cook for a few mins more until tinged golden.
• Turn the heat down and add the leeks and garlic cook for about 5mins until soft. Pour in the rice, stir well and cook until the grains become translucent.
• Next add the wine and turn up the heat, allow the wine to bubble away until nearly all of it has gone.
• Now add a ladleful of stock, stir gently until nearly all the stock has been absorbed (but not all!), continue to do this until most of the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked with a little bite, add a little more stock if necessary to make sure the risott is 'wet' and not stiff.
  
• At this point check the seasoning, add the butter and cheese, stir briefly, pop on a lid and leave for 5mins before serving.

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Simple Egg Fried Rice

A simple recipe, perfect for using up leftovers and shoehorning in extra vegetables.This recipe works best with cold rice, so next time you cook rice, cook a bit more for the next day! (Although we use freshly cooked rice as often as not). Top with whatever interesting bits and bobs you have, toasted cashew nuts, coriander, sliced spring onions, extra chilli...

Oh, and a little tip. I normally buy a massive chunk of ginger, grate it all up and freeze in ice cubes to use for stirfrys and curries.


Serves 4

Ingredients

3tbsp sunflower oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

Optional: approx 300g cooked and shredded chicken or ham

Approx 500g vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces, e.g.
*carrots, sliced or cut into batons
*peppers or courgettes, sliced into strips
*mushrooms, sliced
*peas
*sweetcorn
*beansprouts

350g cooked rice
4-6 eggs, whisked and seasoned
2tbsp soy sauce

To serve:
100g cashew nuts or peanuts, toasted and chopped
1 small bunch coriander or spring onions, chopped
sweet chilli sauce

• You need a really large wok to cook this all at once, if you don't have one, try making it in 2 batches.
• Make sure all your vegetables are prepared before you start cooking.
• Heat a wok until its as smoking and as hot as possible. If you're using nuts, you can toast them in the pan whilst it warms up, but make sure they don't burn!
• Add the sunflower oil, allow to heat up for a few minutes then throw in the garlic, chilli and ginger, stirring furiously, you don't want them to burn.
• Now add the vegetables and cook for 3-5mins until beginning to brown.
• Throw in the meat in using a stir for a few more minutes.
• Now tip in your rice and continue to fry for another minute or so.
• Make a well in the centre and tip in the eggs, keep stirring and frying until the eggs are completely cooked.
• Finish with a splash of soy sauce.
  

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Slow Cooked Lamb, Sweet Potato and Lentil Curry

The picture doesn't really do this justice, it was the inaugural outing of our slow cooker and it did us proud! Amazing tender lamb in a rich sauce of lentils and sweet potato served alongside rice and peas.

I just browned the meat and chucked it into the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients and left it to do its magic overnight, how easy is that? Now I'm planning all manner of slow cooked warming winter treats. Being a bit of a cheapskate and also trying to eat a bit more healthily, I bulked the meat out a lot with sweet potato and lentils. I definitely think adding as much veg as possible and maybe some beans or lentils is the way forward.

What follows is a recipe for cooking it on the hob. As with all curries this improves with age, be very caeful with the ctoch bonnet as it is violently hot. The idea of adding it to the dish whole is to get all the flavour with only a little heat. Be careful though, once the pepper 'bust', the curry will get VERY hot!

Ingredients

Serves 4

600g trimmed shoulder of lamb, cut into chunks
sunflower oil
1 chilli, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground nutmeg
3tbsp malt vinegar
2 sweet potatoes, pelled and cut into chunks
100g red lentils
1 scotch bonnet chilli
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp dark brown sugar

• Heat a large casserole and add 2tbsp oil, fry the lamb in batches until browned on all sides and remove.
• Add a little more oil to the pan and cook the onions until brown and caramelised, add the garlic, chilli, bay leaves, cinnamon and spices and stir well. Splash in the vinegar and scrape the bottom to lift off the sediment.
• Return the lamb to the pot with the sweet potato and lentils and stir to coat in the spicy sauce.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, fill the empty can with water and add that too along with the scotch bonnet.
• Cover the casserole with a lid and cook in the oven at 170C until meltingly tender.

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Rice and Peas

Mmmmmm rice and peas, actually one of my favourite things ever. I am salivating at the thought, my mum is the expert here, family and friends often demand a big pot of this to go with her legendary curries. As with most family recipes, this is impossible to transcribe, I've given below a basic recipe, but in reality my mum just adds a bit here and there of anything she thinks will be nice. An optional extra would be to add a whole scotch bonnet pepper to the rice as its cooking for a bit of spicy flavour, cooking it whole means you get all the flavour without too much spice, watch out if it does split though as it will be HOT!

Eat with Daal, other curries or roast chicken and macaroni cheese for a truly Caribbean feast. This version was made with brown rice simply because I forgot we'd run out of basmati, a little longer cooking time, yes. But, surprisingly delicious, the nuttiness of the brown rice works really well and makes it a lot healthier! As usual, make lots and freeze if you're so inclined.

Rice and peas is basically onions cooked with garlic, chilli and maybe some thyme, then some black eyed peas (my favourite) or gungo peas or plain old kidney beans and lots of coconut milk, you then cook your rice in this rice creamy broth until its all absorbed and you're left with sticky, aromatic, flavourful rice ready to be eaten with anything you'd eat potatoes with really...

My mum is a complete convert to cooking this in the microwave, but I find if you can turn the hob low enough, you can leave it to putter away there.

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 can black eyed peas, drained
½ can coconut Milk
250g basmati rice*
1 bay leaf
1 stock cube
2 sprigs thyme

• Cook the onion and garlic in 2 tbsp oil for 5 or so mins until soft, add the thyme sprigs half way through.
• Once cooked, add the beans and stock powder and coconut milk
• Tip in your rice and ½tsp salt, stir well.
• Add 250ml water and the bay leaf.
• Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to the lowest setting, cover tightly and simmer for 15mins until the liquid is absorbed (add more water if necessary).
• Remover from the heat and let sit for 10mins before serving.

*If using brown rice, add 375ml water and cook for 40mins. Read more...

Easy Lentil Curry with pilaf

I love lentils, so cheap, tasy, filling and a portion of your 5-a-day, what's not to love? This is a really easy, one pot curry, you can make it days in advance and it actually gets better with age. The pilaf is mellow and fragrant, and also really easy to make. I turned the leftovers into a rice salad for my lunch the next day, proper credit crunch cooking...


Ingredients

Lentil Curry
250g green lentils (red lentils work just as well)
½tsp turmeric
½ can coconut milk
½tsp salt
2 onions, finely chopped
1tbsp cumin seeds
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped

• Wash the lentils well in a sieve and tip into a large saucepan. Cover with 600ml water and add to the turmeric. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30mins until completely soft.
• Add the coconut milk and salt and stir well.
• Meanwhile, fry the onions in oil until completely soft, add the garlic, chilli and cumin seeds and fry for a minute or two more.
• Stir your onion mixture into the lentils and enjoy!
• Serve with rice and plenty of yoghurt.

Pilaf
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods, bruised
1 bay leaf
250g basmti rice
500ml vegetable stock
25g flaked almonds
small handful parsley, chopped

• Toast the almonds in a dry pan until golden and set aside.
  
• Fry the onion in a glug of oil for a few mins, add the cinnamon, cardamom and bay, fry for a second.
• Add the rice, stir to coat in the oniony oil.
• Pour in the vegetable stock and bring the pan to the boil, cover and turn to the lowest heat possible. Cook for 20mins.
• Fluff the rice, scatter with the parsley and almonds.

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Leek and goat's cheese risotto

Another autumnal treat - leeks. I love this milder cousin of onions, when sweated down slowly, they are incredibly sweet and work well with peas, that other deliciously sweet vegetable. I love them with cream and cheese, a little bit of mustard or lemon for sharp contrast. My default idea is usually to have this decadent sauce with pasta.

In the interest of expanding my culinary horizons, however, I looked for inspiration and came across this risotto. Sounded simple enough so I gave it a go. Obviously, the deliciousness of your risotto is all down to stock, the better it is, the richer the flavour and the less butter and cheese you need to use. I must admit that often I don't bother making my own, especially if its a mushroom risotto as you can use dried ceps to boost the flavour.

Having said that, as I made this at the weekend, I sliced my vegetables in advance and popped all the skins and bits of vegetables left over into a pan, I added a carrot, some peppercorns, a bay leaf and the stalks of the parsley, covered with water and simmered for an hour whilst I went about my weekend business (reading the paper and drinking coffee). Then, strain into a pan, ready for risotto making.

This turned out really well, I loved the little pockets of sharp goats cheese that added a lovely contrast to the rice. I also threw in some peas for added colour and a little lemon juice and zest to freshen it up.

Recipe Read more...

Kale and Mushroom Stir fry

I was pretty excited when I saw the dark green leaves bursting out of the top of my vegetable box this week, but then quickly I was lost. I felt like kale would be delicious but what to do with it? I've already made this, delicious by the way, but I wanted something else... Internet searching proved fruitless, so I changed tactic and figured that kale is really just a winter green so searched for 'greens' recipes. Many were a take on stir fry and I soon had my heat set on a big bowl of intensely flavoured stir fry on some steaming white rice.

I had planned on using oyster sauce, but checking the list of ingredients on a bottle in the supermarket, I decided to do my own thing. A simple stir fry, using mushrooms for a bit of oomph (I didn't want to just eat a plate of greens!) and some toasted cashews nuts for crunch.

Ingredients
Serves 2 generously

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped
1tbsp ginger, grated
250g mushrooms, sliced
100g kale, tough stalks removed and finely sliced
1 carrots, sliced lengthways and sliced
100g cashews
½ cup vegetable stock
3tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp sesame oil
Rice to serve

• Stirfrys are all about preparation, so sharpen you knife and make sure everything is ready beforehand.
• Heat a wok or large saucepan, toss in the cashews and move them around until golden and toasty. Remove.
• Continue heating the wok as hot as you can bear, glug in a little sunflower oil (or vegetable) and heat until smoking.
• Throw in the garlic, chilli and ginger, stirring frantically for a minute.
• Next add the mushrooms and carrots and fry hard for a few mins until starting to brown around the edges.
• Next add the kale, stir around and pour in the stock watching the pan spit and splutter, allow to bubble away for a few mins until the kale is cooked through and the stock reduced.
• Next stir in the sesame oil and soy sauce. Taste and add more of each to if you prefer.
• Serve with the rice and sprinkle over the cashew nuts.

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Mushroom Risotto

I got one of the little boxes of Japanese mushrooms from the farmers' market and seen as though I still had some dried ones from when I was testing mushroom recipes for a book (someone else's!), I decided to make mushroom risotto. Also, as you use some wine in a risotto, its always the perfect excuse to drink the rest...

Using dried mushrooms really bolsters up the stock and will disguise a poor mushroom selection, although we're coming into autumn now and wild mushroom season, which reminds me, I must find a course where I can learn about picking wild mushrooms...

I fried the mushrooms separately and only added them to the risotto at the end, so they didn't get all limp and soggy, I also didn't add parmesan as the risotto was richly flavoured enough with the mushroom stock and a knob of butter (naturally).

Ingredients

serves 4

50g dried mushrooms
1 litre vegetable stock (from bouillon is fine)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
300g risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)
1 small glass white wine
500g mixed mushrooms, larger ones sliced
couple sprigs thyme
squeeze lemon juice
1 small bunch parsley chopped
large knob of butter

Add the mushrooms to the hot stock and set aside for about 15mins, drain the stock into a saucepan and keep warm on a low heat, retrieve the dried mushrooms and chop roughly. Fry the onions and garlic over a medium heat until softened, then add the dried mushrooms and rice, fry for a few mins until the rice grains become translucent. Next add the wine and turn up the heat, allow the wine to bubble away until nearly all of it has gone. Now add a ladleful of stock, stir gently until nealry all the stock has been absorbed (but not all!), continue to do this until most of the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked with a little bite. Meanwhile fry the mushrooms over a in a little butter and oil, add the thyme sprigs and seasoning. When the mushrooms are cooked add a splash of lemon juice. Add the mushrooms to the risotto once the rice is cooked, add the parsley, some seasoning and a knob of butte, stir, put a lid on and leave for 5mins. Stir again and its ready to serve. Read more...

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

I always entertained ideas of making kedgeree, it fits with my penchant for decadent brunches. In the end we ended up making this for dinner, but there was enough left for a suitably indulgent breakfast the next day. Using smoked mackerel slightly more sustainable take on the classic smoked haddock variety. I also thought it might be fun/nicer to have a fried egg on top instead of chopped boiled egg in the rice. I also added some broad beans from my veg box to up the vegetable content.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 onion
50g butter
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2tsp curry powder
1tsp cumin seeds
1 mugful rice
2 mugfuls vegetable stock
2-3 fillets smoked mackerel
2 eggs
½ bunch parsley, chopped

Fry the onion in the butter and a little oil until soft, add the spices and chilli and fry for a few minutes more. Add the rice and stir to coat in all the aromatic juices. add the juices, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10mins until all the liquid is absorbed. Then turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5mins, fork through, add the smoked mackerel and parsley and season to taste. You could soft boil the eggs, poach them or fry to add to each plate. Read more...

Broad Bean Pilaf

I made this with fresh broad beans, but they are another vegetable like the pea that freeze well, so this is just as good with frozen broad beans. I had this with the Mackerel Salad below, but this would be good with curry too.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp ground coriander
300g broad beans
1 mugful basmati rice
2 mugfuls stock
50g toasted flaked almonds

Fry the onion in a little oil until soft. Add the garlic, cumin and coriander, fry for 1min. Add the broad beans and rice, stir to coat in the spices. Add the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 10mins until the stock is absorbed. Turn of the heat, cover and leave to stand for 10mins. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds to serve. Read more...

Special Rice

This is the best recipe for generic 'egg fried rice' that I've come across. It came courtesy of my good friend, and has thai overtones, but I make no claims of authenticity. Basically, its just tasty, comforting rice in a bowl. Apparently ridiculous amounts of fish sauce and chilli are compulsory.
The idea is use up any left over vegetables you have. Mushrooms and peas work particularly well here as do any type of greens. To be honest, most things go.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 cup brown rice, cooked
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 3cm piece of ginger, grated
2 chillis, finely chopped
3-4 cups assorted vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces
2 eggs, whisked
sunflower oil
fish sauce

Heat the sunflower oil in a wok until smoking hot, add the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. fry for a few mins. Add the vegetables and cook for few mins more, stirring constantly. Now add the rice and fry for a few mins. Make a well in the centre, pour in the eggs and fry, stirring all the time until the egg is absorbed. Finish with a liberal slug of fish sauce. Feel free to add more chilli and fish sauce. Read more...

Piece of Plenty - Brown Rice Salad

I got this recipe whilst working as a cook at Piece of Plenty, a small artisan food business selling at Barnes Farmers' market and Alexandra Farmers' Market. This is one of the most popular salads on the stall and its easy to see why, its delicious! The dressing is what really makes it, thick soy sauce and olive oil coat the rice in a syrupy dressing, with lemon juice and ginger to lift it. Plus, what with the brown rice, veggies, cashew nuts, ginger and lemon juice, this is positively virtuous eating, I often took a box of this home whilst I was working there...

I am a bit of a garlic fiend, but I made a version of this with 1 clove of chopped garlic and 1 chopped red chilli, which I think were welcome additions, especially the extra heat of the chilli.

Serves 2-3
For the salad

• 2 cups of brown rice cooked until soft
• 4 or 5 peppers, diced finely
• 1 small bunch spring onions, sliced finely
• 100g cashews nuts, toasted

For the dressing

• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• juice 1 lemon (approx 50ml)
• 50ml dark soy sauce
• 1tsp grated ginger

Place all the dressing ingredients in a clean jam jar and mix well. You can make up large quantities of this and it will keep happily for a few weeks Mix together the salad ingredients, pour over enough dressing to coat and enjoy!

Note: when cooking drown rice, I like to use twice as much water as rice, bring it to the boil, cover and leave to simmer until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft, top up if necessary. I find brown rice does actually take at least 30mins to cook, being the impatient cook that I am, I often undercook it, which is fine, you get a nuttier grain, but its a bit heavy on the old digestion...


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