Rice with ANY vegetable

Once I knew someone who told me he likes to eat rice plain, just as it is. I thought to myself that he must be crazy. I didn’t know back then that if you add the right amount of salt to rice, it can taste great with pretty much any vegetable – making it the easiest vegan recipe there is.

This one may be obvious but it actually took me a long time to realize that with a lot of spices and most vegetables (or fruits, hello tomatoes), rice can really taste wonderful. How I do it is in the form of a somewhat “risotto” but mostly just a random way of cooking rice that I find works well and only requires one pot. Yay to one pot vegan meals, and yay to the simplicity of rice.

Vegan Rice With Any Vegetable

Ingredients:

1. Rice (around 2 cups) or as much as rice you want to make (NO RULES HERE)
2. Any vegetables you have (whatever amount you have)
3. Spices (anything such as oregano, paprika, basil, cumin, curry, really whatever you have at home)
4. 1 chopped onion
5. (2 tbsp) of any kind of oil you like
6. 2 tbsp soy sauce (optional)
7. Water (enough to cover rice a few times)

• The cool thing about rice is that it is so versatile that you can really add any leftover veggies you got and see what happens – most likely it will work out great!

Recipe for vegan rice with any vegetable:

1. Heat up a big pan or pot with some oil (around 2 tbsp)
2. Add the chopped up onion and stir around for 2-3 minutes. You can do it longer if you want, I think personally I like it better when I do it for around 4-5 minutes and wait for the onion to become slightly golden.
3. Add the vegetables among with spices you have and soy sauce(optional). Stir them around for 4-5 minutes until they are well covered in everything you added.
4. Add rice and stir quickly around.
5. Add water enough to cover the rice (I use boiling water I boiled in the kettle since it makes it a lot faster).
6. Let the whole thing boil and then turn down the heat a bit and simmer (stir around occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom).
7. When all the water is gone, check how it tastes, if you like it, it’s done!
8. If you don’t – add some more water, salt, or whatever else it may be missing, stir around and wait a bit longer so it does not stick to the bottom. Try again when the water is gone and do the same depending on whether you like it or not.
9. It’s done!

Can I eat rice every day?

Combined with a healthy and balanced diet, eating a bit of rice every day should not be a problem.

Rice is low in fat and high in starch, full of vitamins and minerals and it is a great source of vitamin E, B vitamins (thiamin, niacin) and potassium.

• The average person in much of Asia eats rice two or three times a day.
• Most rice is consumed in the country where it is produced. Only 5 percent of the world’s total is exported.
• It takes 3,000-5,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of rice – don’t waste it!

Facts from Yumasia.

Want to eat some more rice? Check out my recipe for potatoes with rice – one of my favorite comfort foods, easy and delicious to make.