Quick and Easy Vegetable Pilaf

This is a recipe I use one those nights when I haven't thought of what to make and want something on the table as quickly as possible.  It's a very flexible recipe and you can use whatever vegetables you have left in the fridge.  As always, I don't use chilli, but if you like it spicy just add a finely chopped chilli at the same time as the ginger.

What you will need:

• 1 small onion or leek (I only had a little bit of leek and so used some spring onions instead on this occasion)
• rice bran or vegetable oil
• about 2 cups of chopped veggies (I used green beans and mushrooms)
• 1 - 2 tsp finely grated ginger
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 cup fairly strong chicken stock
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (an alternative is to use the same amount of drained tinned chickpeas)
• a handful of slivered almonds, toasted 
• fresh coriander

What you need to do:

1. Chop up all your veggies ready to go.

2. Fry onion/leek/spring onions in some oil in a medium sized saucepan until soft and golden.

3. Add ginger and stir for about 30 seconds.

3. Add powdered spices and stir for about a minute.

4. Add chopped veggies (not peas) and stir for another minute.

5. Add the rice and stir to mix through.

6. Add chicken stock and water and stir.  Reduce heat to low and cover saucepan.  Allow to cook for 12 minutes, without removing the lid.

 

7.  While the rice is cooking, run peas under hot water in a sieve to thaw them out.  I find this the quickest and easiest way, but if you'd prefer to blanch them in boiling water that's also fine.

8. Toast almond slivers until golden brown.

9. When the rice is finished remove the lid quickly to check that it looks something like the photo below and that there isn't any water left at the base of the saucepan.  Stir through the peas and re-cover.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes while you rinse and chop the coriander.

10.  Fork through the rice to fluff it up.  You can now stir through the almonds but if like me, you have one person who doesn't like almonds, then you can just sprinkle them over the top with the coriander and some freshly ground black pepper.

There are so many ways to vary this recipe to make use of what ingredients you have.  Zucchini works well as do tomatoes, but as these are high water content vegetables so if you do use them reduce the water from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup.  You can vary the spices as well to suit your taste.