Chef Maven’s brown rice with fresh veggies and sesame oil recipe

brown rice is twice as nice and twice (actually more than twice) better for you than white rice!

So last night I tried making brown rice for the very first time. I know!!! (ala Craig Fergeson) – So far I am 36 hours (and counting) with being a vegetarian ok –  Im one of those new practicing Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians – let’s see how long it lasts….

While at the grocery store today I was eying the lamb chops – they looked so good…but I digress. I splurged going to a local store called Turcos which is as close to WholeFoods as we can get in this area of New York that I live in. Grabbed up some balsamic syrup (love that stuff!) and some manchego cheese – but let’s get to cooking brown rice.

Brown Rice with Mushrooms, red bell peppers and zucchini recipe:

Follow directions on your brown rice – I used an organic brown rice that suggested to rinse the rice first. This recipe makes a lot of rice, and with the added vegetables – you will roughly make enough for about 7 to 8 cups of cooked rice with veggies – great hot or cold, as a main meal (which is what I did) or as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown rice
• 5 cups water (or the amount called for with your type of rice)(and in the future I will use only 4-1/2 cups of water)
• Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
• 1-1/2 Large Red Bell Peppers
• 1 medium sized zucchini (I used the the Zephyr type)
• 5 cloves of garlic – freshly minced
• 4 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil + 2 tablespoons olive oil/butter for vegetables
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 cups freshly sliced mushrooms
• 5 green scallions/green onions diced (both green and white parts)

Once your brown rice and veggie stir fry is ready, top with your cooked tofu - and voila, one healthy quick delicious meal!

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to large pot and minced onions. Let onions get soft (not browned) on a low-medium heat, stirring on occasion – about 7 minutes.
2. Add dry brown rice and minced garlic to pan with heat on medium. Stir rice until all ingredients are combined and rice is slightly coated with the olive oil. Add water and lid.
3. Turn up heat and allow to come to a boil. Then turn down heat to low and let cook undisturbed for 40 minutes.
4. Hint – do not open lid, do not stir brown rice to help prevent any starchiness.
5. While rice is cooking, grab a large skillet and dice up all remaining vegetables.
6. Once rice is finished cooking – turn off heat and place a clean dish towel over rice and lid back on (loosely) – this will allow steam to escape and further prevent starchiness.
7. Add the additional olive oil to the skillet and add your mushrooms, let get softened on a low-medium heat for 5 minutes, then add diced bell pepper and remaining zucchini to the skillet. Let continue to cook on medium heat for five minutes. You want the vegetables to still have some bite to them and for them not to be over done.
8. You are now ready to put it all together.
9. In a large bowl I added just over half of the cooked brown rice and all the vegetables (and now the added fresh uncooked diced scallions) and mixed everything together with a large spoon – then drizzled a bit of the sesame oil on top, add some fresh extra scallions or chopped cilantro on top – and voila! You got a meal made in heaven.

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Here are some interesting things I found out about how brown rice is really good for you – I suggest you take a look to get you some other ideas on how to incorporate this seriously healthy stuff to your diet.

this wholefoods site is amazing! http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=128

http://www.brownricerecipes.org/

http://www.vegetariantimes.com – I found this site and it is fun full of important information.

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/2007/pdf/vegetarian_starter_kit.pdf – this is the vegetarian starter kit – I had to download it – heck its free, and the ‘starter kit’ was something I had to laugh about to check it out – but was pleasantly surprised – real, true and informative.

I also learned from the whfoods.com:

“The process that produces brown rice removes only the outermost layer, the hull, of the rice kernel and is the least damaging to its nutritional value. The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of the vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all of the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids. Fully milled and polished white rice is required to be “enriched” with vitamins B1, B3 and iron.”

Ok  – the meal really was very good and would make it again for sure.

Chow Ciao for Now ~ Chef Maven