Golden Vegetable Rice
Golden Vegetable Rice acquires its colour from from the turmeric in the ingredients. The flavour of this dish comes mainly from the stock. Texture comes from the rice and the added vegetables.
The vegetables are primarily sweetcorn and peas but many other vegetables can be added as well. A handful of chopped red pepper adds a splash of additional colour. Frozen or fresh vegetables are both fine.
To make things really easy, we buy a tub of Four Bean Salad from Tesco and use half of that for the vegetables. Great texture and flavour and it has diced red pepper to add that finishing colour.
You can buy packs of Golden Vegetable Rice which can be microwaved in two minutes but the rice is rather "mushy" compared to the real thing. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much better Golden Vegetable Rice tastes when you cook it yourself compared to the microwave option.
Golden Vegetable Rice can be served as a side dish to a huge variety of meals. We generally eat it as a main meal and for this purpose we add in some form of meat. Chopped chicken, pork (both pre-cooked) or left over turkey are great, as is chunky ham. Our favourite is roughly chopped chorizo and we describe where to add this in the recipe instructions below.
The recipe below is for two servings, just double or triple the ingredients depending on how many servings you want. This rice dish can be kept in the fridge for two days. To keep the rice safe to eat, spoon the the remainder into a food container, cover and place in the fridge within an hour.
140g / 5oz long grain or Basmati rice
250 ml of vegetable or chicken stock (one OXO cube to hot water)
Half a table spoon of olive or vegetable oil
Quarter of a medium sized onion
One garlic clove, minced or finely chopped
Three quarters of a teaspoon of Turmeric
120g mixed vegetables (read the section above for suggestions)
Salt and pepper to taste
OPTIONAL - Chopped meat (read the section above for suggestions)
Chopped chorizo
If using frozen vegetables, take them out of the freezer now and place in a bowl to start them defrosting.
Heat the oil on a medium heat in the frying pan for five minutes.
Add the finely chopped quarter of an onion and cook for five minutes, turning a couple of times.
While the chopped onion is cooking, rinse the rice under cold running water for a couple of minutes. This will remove some the starch and help keep the rice grains separate when cooking.
Frying onions
Add the garlic and three quarters of a teaspoon of turmeric (and the optional meat / chorizo) to the chopped onion, stir well and cook for a further two minutes.
Garlic and turmeric added
Add rice (140g / 5oz) and stock (250 ml), stirring well. Cook until the mixture simmers (takes approximately 5 minutes). Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for a further 12 minutes. Turn the mixture every five minutes.
At this point, the ingredients in the pan should be moist but not wet. If too much moisture remains, remove the pan cover, turn the heat to medium, stir the ingredients and cook for another couple of minutes until the excess moisture has evaporated.
Stock and rice added
Add the mixed vegetables, stir well and cook for three more minutes. Taste the Golden Vegetable rice, add salt and pepper to your taste, stir well and serve.
Golden Vegetable Rice ready to serve