Colourful Rice with Mixed Vegetables perfect for the Street Party

Make this quick and easy colourful rice for any meal.  It's got some spices but isn't too spicy so can be served with any salad and yogurt.  You can adapt this recipe to whatever vegetables you have available to cook with rice.  I have some of my favourite young guests coming today to join us for the Queens Diamond Jubilee street party this weekend and they love  this rice.

Ingredients

1 cup of rice

1 cup of mixed vegetables (I used green soya beans (edamame beans), peas, sweetcorn, sweet peppers, carrots)

3-4 Echalion shallots (or any small onions)

4-5 baby tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

half a teaspoon of turmeric

1 tablespon oil

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds (Optional)

Method:e

1, Cut the carrots and peppers into small cubes.

2. Add all the vegetables (apart from the shollots and baby tomatoes) to the rice and allow to soak for 20 minutes.

3.  Remove the water and add  plenty of  hot water to the rice and vegetables and allow to cook on high until bubbling. (You cook this similar to pasta with lots of water).

4.  Once the rice is cooked (You check this by taking some rice in a spoon), drain the water by using a sieve or colander- (just like you would do for pasta).

5.  Heat the oil and add the shallots to the oil. Add the cumin seeds now.

6.  Toss the onions until they are coated with oil and cook for a minute or two - until the cumin seeds brown.

7.  Add the rice to the onions.

8,  Add the salt and turmeric.  If you like your rice to be hot - you can add green chilies or chile powder to the rice)

9. Gently mix the rice with a fork.  Transfer the mixture to an oven proof bowl. 

10,  Garnish with the Baby tomatoes and cover with foil.

11.  Cook in an oven at 170 degreeC ( about 350  F)  for 15 minutes

12. Serve the colourful rice with yogurt and a nice salad.

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Green Soya and Potatoes Curry (Soya bateta nu shak)

I got my first taste of green soya beans in Japan where they serve it boil them in salt and serve them cold in their pods as a starter.  Soya beans are full of proteins and vitamins.

I usually buy mine frozen from the supermarket and cook them either with potatoes or add them to other vegetables to make a mixed vegetable curry.

Most of you  will  already know this recipe but hopefully will pardon me for sharing this recipe for the young and new chefs like my son who are now living away from home and crave for home cooked food but too embarrassed to ask mum. 

Ingredients to serve 4 people:

2 medium potatoes -washed and diced. 
2 cups of frozen soya bean 
1 tablespoon oil (Most cooking oils are fine but try and use one which is low in saturated fats and trans fats) 
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds 
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chilly powder (or as required to your taste) 
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder 
1 teaspoon of ground cummin (jeera) powder. 
2-3 cloves of garlic 
One cup of passata or any tomato products like tinned tomatoes. Passata is made from ripe tomatoes that have been puried and sieved to remove the skin and seeds. It's sauce is a lot thicker and helps make the gravy in curry look richer and thicker. Passata is sold in bottles or cartons in most supermarkets and comes in various flavours such as garlic, basil etc. 
2 teaspoons lemon 
1 teaspoons of brown sugar or jaggery 
A small bunch of fresh coriander

Method: 

1. Dice the potatoes into cubes and the soak them with the frozen soya beans  in warm water. 

2.  Heat the oil in a saucepan.

3. Add the mustard seeds. They should start popping - if not, stir them with a wooden spoon and wait for them to pop.

4. Drain and add the diced potatoes and soya beans to the saucepan.

5 . Add the salt, turmeric, chilly powder, sugar or jaggery and stir well.

6.  Add a cup of water to this mixture and cover.

7. Let this cook for 5 minutes on a medium heat, stir and cook for 5 more minutes. (You can transfer this to a microwave and cook until the vegetables soften)

8. Continue cooking and checking until the potatoes and soya beans have softened.  This should take a further 5 or 10 minutes.  The soya beans taste nicer when they are soft.

9 . Add the passata or tinned tomatoes, cumin powder, grated/minced garlic and lemon juice and let it cook for 5 minutes.

10. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve.

This curry can be served with puris, chappatis, bhakri, porathas, theplas, naan bread, khichedi, plain rice or even bread rolls.

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