Sprouted California Rice (brown-red-black rice mixture) with Peas and Mushrooms, Massaged Kale Salad, Plantain (No Added Fat)

I was thinking of cooking rice with riced cauliflower, but then thought I'd instead use peas, which my daughter loves. I had on hand some Trader Joe's brand "sprouted California rice" and used it. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 2T onion cut into 3/8" cubes
• 1 cup brown, red, and black rice mixture
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/8 t turmeric
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 cup sliced mushroom
• Ingredient 2
• 8 ounces of seitan
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 2 cups onion cut into half moon slices approx. 1/4" x 1 1/4" ( maybe 2/3 of a medium onion)
• 1 1/4 cups carrot cut into 3/8" slices (3 small-medium carrots)

Process

1. The rice that I used calls for simmering for 25m in a 1 1/4 : 2 ratio to water, but I favor extra water to be sure that rice is moist, so went with 1:2. I first sauteed for a few minutes on medium heat the onion, stirring occasionally, then added the rice, water, salt, and turmeric.
2. I brought the rice to a boil then reduced heat and simmered on low, covered, for 25m.
3. I let the rice sit, off heat, for about 5 minutes, then mixed in the frozen peas and mushrooms. Luckily, there was a little bit of water left; I turned the heat on just for 2 or so minutes with the pot covered, then turned the heat off and let the pan sit for another few minutes (just to be sure that the peas and mushroom were cooked).

I served the rice along with a massaged kale salad and plantain slices, which I had cooked, without oil, on a cast iron pan.

Results

Wow, dinner surpassed my expectations. Though it was fairly simple, all of us quite enjoyed the meal. The rice dish was "just right" - I can't think of much to do to improve it, but will see if I can come up with some ideas below. The rice came out better than I thought it would.

Ideas for the future

I like the ratios of ingredients I used in the rice. Perhaps a little saffron might have been interesting? For some reason, I've lately been thinking of saffron and should buy some saffron threads, though they are expensive. I've not used them in cooking for many years.

I could make similar dishes with other kinds of rice, but I think that one thing that made tonight's meal so interesting was the combination of rices in the main dish. Some curried cauliflower mixed in might be nice.