Recipe: Basic Rice Meal

I can't believe I haven't actually cooked this during my lenttide yet, it's the easiest thing and what I cook the most often. The key elements are: 1) rice (basmati is my favourite) 2) cooking sauce and 3) anything you want in the stir-fry. My favourite cooking sauces to use include teriyaki, black bean and hoi sin. When using hoi sin, I love to include sweet pepper. For some reason these very Asian (influenced) sauces aren't that easy to find in the Czech Republic, despite Uncle Ben's jars being a common feature. For some reason, the biggest range of exotic food is Mexican. Anyway, back to what I was talking about: the sauce I use most frequently here is 'Provences' sauce. The major ingredients are tomatoes, courgettes aka. zucchinis and herbs de provences. I do seem to have become rather enamoured with that herb.

On with the recipe!

INGREDIENTS

Cooking sauce ('provensalska' in this case)

Rice (basmati in this case)

Cooking oil (doesn't matter which)

Potatoes

Carrot(s)

Onion

White kidney beans

Garlic (2 cloves in this case)

Ground Pepper, Chili if you feel like adding it

Step 0: Peel the potatoes if you feel like it. Carrots too I guess. If the potato skin is smooth and clean, like on salad potatoes, I don't bother peeling.

Step 1: Get the rice boiling and keep half an eye on it. The rice will be done before the main dish, so once it is or nearly done, cut off the heat to the rice and let it stand. Rice can stay hot for a very long time when covered.

Step 2: Chop up the hard vegetables into cubic chunks and warm them in the frying pan. The heat should be just above moderate.

Step 3: Open the tin of beans and drain. What I normally do is have the tin lid only opened 3/4 of the way, then hold it down as I pour out the liquid.

Step 4: Stir the vegetables and add the pepper. Once they are sizzling immediately after a stir, turn down the heat. Pour in the beans a minute or two later.

Step 5: Chop up the garlic and onion. The onion should be quartered, then each quartered segment chopped. Then separate the layers. This makes sure the onion pieces are crunchy when you eat them.

Step 6: After a couple of stirs with the beans, add more pepper if you wish, then pour in the onion and garlic. A couple more minutes of sizzling and stirring will follow.

Step 7: The rice is likely to be ready by this point, so cut the heat. Pour into the frying pan the cooking sauce. It will only need a few minutes to heat up, so stir regularly and then serve. As always, taste test to insure its readiness.