ROOFTOP RICE
There's something about eating freshly cooked food in open air that makes me feel really really good.
Since moving back to London, I've fallen into the habit of using Sunday afternoons as a time to claim my apartment building's roof as my own. Over summer, I've spent hours crowded onto the roof's picnic bench with friends, friends of friends and my new flatmate.
Whilst I'm notorious for inviting everyone over for a BBQ and leaving BBQ duties to an unexpecting visitor (sorry, Joe), today I whipped up a super easy rice dish. Something that tasted so good (if I do say so myself) that it is carrying us through to Monday's dinner time, too.
Rooftop Rice has the texture of paella and is a little bit of a one-pot wonder. It's the sort of thing that you can curl up on the sofa with a bowl of or share with fellow hungover friends, in need of something to help them eat their way out of the reminders of Saturday's antics.
Recipe
What you need:
- Enough rice for each person (I never measure rice and totally freestyle. Half a mug pp perhaps?)
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 2 peppers (red and yellow)
- 1 tin of sweet corn
- 1 1/2 tins of kidney beans
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- 2 tea spoons of crushed garlic
- 1 red onion
- Portion of coriander
- 1 handful of cashew nuts (optional)
- Pinches of salt, chilli powder, mixed herbs (to taste)
What you do:
1) Using a wok, cook the rice in boiling water and the vegetable stock.
2) When cooked through, add the chopped onion, garlic and some of the tinned tomatoes. This will keep the dish 'liquidy' (technical term) and stop the rice from burning the bottom of the pan. You can add the seasoning now too, and top it up to your taste as the dish cooks.
3) Keep the dish simmering on a low heat and continue adding the tomatoes/more water to ensure the dish doesn't burn. Be careful not to add too much though, as we won't be draining the water off.
4) Add the tin of kidney beans, chopped peppers and sweet corn.
5) Cover the dish and let simmer for 20 mins. Ensure that you check the dish at 5 minute intervals throughout and give it a stir.
6) Whilst this simmers, you could make a yogurt to accompany it. I just mixed some chopped coriander with garlic salt, mixed herbs and natural yogurt (preferably soy or coconut)
7) As a final touch, you can add a handful of cashews to the pot. The texture goes with it really well and is extra protein apparently (my flat mate told me this?!). Tear the coriander over the top and you're good!
8) Plate it up, bowl it up or if you're feeling especially fancy, take the wok outside and let everything pile up the dish into their own bowls.
Super easy and vegan (yipeee). Enjoy ♡
Holly x
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Holly xxx