Scented, Crunchy Black Rice Salad

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Scented, Crunchy Black Rice SaladBlack rice is also known as “Forbidden Rice” in China because it is said to be only for emperors. It is said to be a super food that we are fortunate to have access to. Zhimin Xu, PhD, of Louisiana State University Agricultural Centre is quoted to have said “Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar and more fibre and vitamin E antioxidants…”

There are many varieties of black rise from China, Korea and I think Thailand too.

Someone asked me today what they should do with some black rice they purchased to make a salad. Having not done a black rice salad before I just made suggestions on flavours and ingredients I thought would compliment such a staple. Then I decided to see how it would turn out so I made one.

The result was an aromatic, garden scented, dish with the black rice the platform for a range of fragrant Asian favourites. The nuts, noodles and coriander roots give it a gorgeous crunch. If you want an extra kick, simply leave in the chilli seeds and/or add more chilli.

 

YOU NEED

For the salad:

½ cup of black rice (I had the glutinous one)

½ small brown onion, peeled and finely diced

10 mushrooms, sliced (I used button as that’s what I had, but some Asian mushrooms would be perfect in this)

3 tablespoons of well washed and finely sliced coriander roots

1 handful of washed and roughly chopped coriander leaves

1 handful of fresh basil leaves, washed and gently sliced (as they bruise)

1 handful fresh spinach, well washed to avoid grit

 

For the dressing:

1 tablespoon of soy sauce (or tamari for a gluten free option)

dash of sesame oil

½ tablespoon of fresh lime juice

¼  teaspoon of minced ginger

1 teaspoon of agave (if you don’t have agave use sugar but add ½ teaspoon and taste again  before adding more)

oil for cooking

1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced

 

For the garnish

1 small red chilli, cut in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and finely slice.

2 handfuls of roasted peanuts (Mine were raw so I dry roasted them in a hot pan for a minute or 2)

#optional~ a handful of “Chang’s” fried noodles

 

YOU DO

Rinse the rice under cold water. Put it in a pot of water, bring it to the boil and simmer until the rice is tender. Mine took about 30 – 40 minutes. I just pottered around and made the dressings etc while the rice cooked. I rinsed mine when it was cooked too in case there were any starches because I used the gelatinous one. Drain and set aside.

Heat a good splodge of oil in a small pan and cook the onion until it caramelizes. Add the mushrooms and cook till they are softened and coloured. Pull the mushroom and onions out of the pan with some tongs and place them on some draining paper. Set aside

Make the dressing. Place all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk.

Add the cooked rice and all the salad ingredient to the dressing and mix everything together.

Give the rice a good stir when you go to serve it. Sprinkle with the finely sliced chilli. Finally top it with the noodles and nuts, just as you are about to serve, so that they remain super crunchy.

Serve warm or cold.

 

Servings: 2 lunch size serves or serve as a side with other dishes.

Time: 15 minutes preparation. 30-40 minutes of cooking time.

Notes: Don’t be put off by a longer list of ingredients. It’s often the recipes with a lot of ingredients that are the easiest and require the least amount of skill. The result is worth it too!

Marinated Olives

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YOU NEED

1 x 900 gram bottle of Spanish Queen Olives, not pitted (picked these up from Aldi on special today)

1kg of Kalamata olives, not pitted

1 full bulb of garlic, peeled and sliced

10 tablespoons of fennel seeds

17 star anise

the rind of 3 large oranges. Make sure you remove all of the pith (the pith is the white part as it will impart bitterness)

1/2 cup of fresh rosemary leaves

5 small red chillies, sliced

4 bay leaves

1. 5 litres of olive oil

 

YOU DO

Place all the dry ingredients into a large pot over a medium heat and stir for a few minutes.

Add a few tablespoons of oil, the orange rind, chillies and garlic and sauté for another minute or so. You are not trying to colour the garlic. You just want to apply enough heat and a minute to help the oils release.

Add the olives and the olive oil and bring the oil almost to boil. Turn off the heat, let your olives cool then put them and the marinade into sterilised jars.

Give as gifts and/or serve at BBQ’s and partys.

 

Makes: Makes about 2kgs of marinated olives.

Time: Haven’t timed this one.  

Freezing: Not suitable.

Creamy Vegetable Paprika Soup

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YOU NEED

1 cup of celery, diced

1 cup of carrot, diced

1 cup of purple sweet potato, diced

1 small brown onion, peeled and finely diced

2 litres of “chicken stock”

40 grams flour (I used quinoa but you can use plain white flour)

1 tablespoon of Hungarian sweet paprika

1 tablespoon of smoky paprika

125 ml of plant based milk (I used Bonsoy because it has a very creamy texture and it fares well in hot liquid.)

oil for cooking

 

YOU DO

Heat some oil in a medium pot. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook on medium heat for a few minutes till they soften.

Add the paprika to the pot and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add the flour and stir it through the pot ingredients.

Add ¼ of the stock and whisk briskly. Add the rest of the stock and whisk again till there are no flour lumps. Bring to the boil and add the milk.

Simmer on a medium heat for 30 mins. Then add the purple sweet potato and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.

Check the seasoning. I added 1 more teaspoon of “chicken stock” and 2 teaspoons of salt.

Serve. Enjoy.

 

Makes: 4 serves

Time: Haven’t timed this one

Freezing: Haven’t tried freezing this one because it contains potato and I haven’t had great results when freezing potato.

Notes: If you want a lower fat option simply omit the oil for water to sauté the vegetables.

Add more of each vegetable to make a dinner worthy soup.

Almond & Pistachio Dukkah

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Dukkah is an Egyptian dry dip made from aromatic, herbs, seeds and nuts. It is incredibly easy to make and will fill your home with its fragrant aroma.

YOU NEED

50 grams of sesame seeds

2 tablespoons of coriander seeds

2 tablespoons of cumin seeds

50 grams (in total) of almonds & pistachio nuts

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorns

 

YOU DO

Place all the ingredients into a pan on a medium heat and dry roast them for a few minutes. Stir the mixture while they roast. Be careful not to burn anything. Place aside and let cool.

Place in food processor and roughly grind. (I don’t have a food processor so just used my mortar and pestle)

Serve with sourdough and a *good quality cold pressed olive oil*. I promise you it DOES make a difference.

Dip chunks of bread into the oil and then the Dukkah. Heaven on a plate.

 

Servings: Makes about a cup of dukkah

Time: 10 minutes

Freezing: Not suitable for freezing

Coconut, Kaffir Lime & Lemon Grass Pudding

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YOU NEED

4 cups of coconut milk

6 kaffir lime leaves

1 lemon grass stalk, halved and bruised

½ cup palm of sugar, grated (if you don’t have palm sugar you can use brown sugar)

½ cup of Arborio rice

fresh lime juice

 

YOU DO

Place the milk, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and palm sugar into a pot and bring to the boil.

Stir until the sugar has dissolved and add the rice. Continue cooking on a high heat for a minute or 2, then turn down to a gentle simmer.

Cook until the rice is cooked (approx 30 mins). STIR REGULARLY.

Once the rice is cooked, remove the lemon grass and kaffir leaves and serve.

Squeeze fresh lime juice over the pudding just before you serve it.

Lovely also served with mango, papaya and/or guava

 

Servings: 2 large or 4 small

Time: Haven’t timed yet

Freezing: Not suitable for freezing

Semi dried Tomato & Garlic Chive Chickpea Pancakes

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 YOU NEED

150 grams of chickpea (also known as besan flour or garbanzo flour)

220ml of water

2/3 cup of zucchini, washed and grated (also known as courgette)

1.5 teaspoons of salt

1/3 cup of fresh chives, washed and finely sliced

¼ cup of semi dried tomatoes, drained of their oil and finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

 

YOU DO

Put the chickpea flour into a large bowl and add the water. Whisk until the mixture has a smooth batter consistency.

Squeeze the grated zucchini in a clean, dry tea towel to remove extra water content from it.

Add the zucchini and the rest of the ingredients to the batter and mix well to combine.

Gently heat a small non stick pan with enough oil to grease the pan (I used the oil from the semi dried tomato jar).

Put a well greased pancake ring (I used one because I wanted my pancakes to look pretty) in the pan and pour in just under ¼ cup of the mixture (I used a 1/4 cup, cup measurer). Each time you scoop up ¼ of a cup of the mixture make sure you stir the mixture first so that all the fillings are well distributed in the batter.

Watch your pancakes while they are cooking and when you see bubbles on the surface of the pancakes and also when you touch the sides and they have firmed slightly, gently pull the ring up and place it aside. Then turn the pancake over with an egg flipper. Do this GENTLY. Cook until till browned.

Repeat this process until you have used all the batter and serve

I served mine with a spicy eggplant pickle, semi dried tomatoes and rocket.

 

Yields: Makes 10 depending on the size of the cooking ring you use and if you use a ring.

Time: Approximately 20 minutes

Freezing: Not suitable for freezing

Notes: If your batter is too wet, simply add more flour and if it’s too dry add more water..

You REALLY want your oil to be fairly hot before you pour the batter onto, otherwise your pancakes will be soggy and oily. Not too hot though or they will burn.  A gentle to medium heat after the batter has hit the pan is perfect, because you want your pancakes to cook through. If your pan gets too hot at any stage just remove it from the heat. Remember like all pancake making sessions that the 1st couple are usually crap and they get better as you keep cooking.

If your pancakes stick a little to your cooking ring when you try to lift it, just get a small, sharp, thin bladed knife and gently run it around the edge of the ring to release the pancake.

These are also lovely with corn, but I do find ingredients with strong flavours like those I have listed or by adding things like olives, capers, spring onions etc work best with besan flour as they compete well with the strong earthy flavour of the flour.

Cashew, Coriander & Cauliflower Soup

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YOU NEED

1 tablespoons of rice bran oil

1 medium brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 medium head of cauliflower, leaves removed and roughly cut into small peices

3.5 cups of vegetable stock

1 cup of raw cashews

2 – 3 large cloves of garlic, peeled, and roughly chopped

1 teaspoons of salt

pepper to taste

1 bunch of fresh coriander washed and roughly chopped. Including the stems!

 

YOU DO

Heat the oil in a medium pot, add the onion and cook on a medium heat until it is coloured. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or 2.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the coriander. Place a lid on the pot and bring the soup back to the boil. Once it has boiled, turn it down to a gentle simmer and cook until the cauliflower is tender.

Once the cauliflower is tender, turn the heat off, add the coriander and blend until smooth.

 

Yeilds: 2 large

Time: Approximately 30 minutes

Notes: You can sauté the onion in a little water instead of the rice bran oil if you wish. It will alter the flavour though, as the oil helps the onion to release its natural sugars and caramelise, giving this soup a richer flavour.

The thickness of the soup will vary depending on the size of the cauliflower you use. If it is too thick, simply add a little more stock.

For a super smooth soup, soak the cashews overnight in enough water to cover them. Drain and discard the soaking water and then add them to the soup.

Spicy Curry, Chickpea & Cauliflower Soup

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YOU NEED

1 small brown onion, peeled and finely diced

2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 medium cauliflower, leaves off and cut into rough florets

3 cups of vegetable stock

1.5 teaspoons of small red chillies, seeds and all, roughly chopped

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup of rice milk. 

¾ teaspoon of salt

2.5 teaspoons of curry powder

 

YOU DO

Heat a little water in a medium pot, add the onion and cook on a medium heat until it the onion has soften and started to colour.

Add the garlic and cook for another minute or 2.

Add the curry powder and the chilli and cook on a gentle heat for another minute. You may need to, add a little more water so the curry powder does not burn.

Add the remaining ingredients, except for the rice milk. Cover the pot with a top and simmer gently until the cauliflower is tender.

Remove from the heat, add the rice milk and blend till smooth.

 

Servings: 4 large

Time: Approximately 20 minutes

Freeze: Suitable

“Cream” of Cauliflower Soup

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YOU NEED

1 small brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon of rice bran oil

1 small head of cauliflower, leaves removed and cauliflower cut into rough florets

1 large potato, peeled, washed and roughly chopped

2 cups of vegetable stock (I use Massel Brand)

2 cups of Bonsoy (I used Bonsoy in this because it is sooooooooooooooo creamy)

1.5 teaspoons of salt

pepper to taste

 

YOU DO

Heat the olive oil in a pot. Add the onion and sauté till coloured.

Add all of the rest of the ingredients except for the Bonsoy. Cover the pot with a lid and let simmer till the vegetables are tender.

Remove from the heat. Add the Bonsoy. Blend, check the seasoning and serve.

 

Servings: Have not yet recorded.

Time: 30 minutes

Freezing: Have never frozen this one

Bean Dip

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This is a great one for dinner parties. Dips are always such a welcomed dish to any occasion. It’s such an easy recipe but results in a rich, creamy fragrant treat.

Seriously, who needs to buy dips from the supermarket when they are this easy, cheap, fast and delicious to make at home.

 

YOU NEED

1 X 400 gram can of butter beans, washed well and drained

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 large clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (I use an organic cold pressed olive oil)

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

 

YOU DO

Blend

Drizzle some olive oil over the top and serve.

 

Servings: Have not recorded.

Time: 5 minutes

Freezing: Have never frozen this one