Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| Vegetarian | Vegan Cuisine

Author's note

This recipe originated when I tried to adapt my saffron rice and beans for a barbecue. I planned on heating saffron rice and beans over a wood fire at the barbecue as a vegetarian main course, but didn't make enough rice, and added some raw ingredients at the last minute before slow-cooking over the fire. Later I liked it so much that I made it in the oven.

Ingredients

• 2 Onions cut into chunks
• 3 tomatoes, cut into large chunks
• several carrots, cut into large chunks
• One can Canned chickpeas or black beans
• Other vegetables, zucchini, bell pepper, etc, cut into chunks
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 5-10 cloves garlic
• Misc spices, good ones include paprika, cumin, ground chili or chili powder, ground oregano , etc
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 750 ml red wine -- the cheapest you can stand to drink -- I use Charles Shaw merlot, although any of the equivalently priced box-wines will work, so long as you get the red.

Procedure

1. Put one tablespoon of olive oil in saucepan, heat.
2. Stir in curry powder
3. Stir in rice, fry rice briefly (5 minutes or so -- although the dish works if the rice is raw too) while stirring
4. Pre-heat oven to 250
5. Turn off heat, put vegetables, spices, and garlic, followed by rice with curry oil, followed with the can of beans and half the bottle of wine in a casserole dish

With a cover. Stir briefly to mix, and make sure some at least some rice is on top.

1. add rest of olive oil to casserole dish, fill with either water or remainder of wine until all vegetables, beans and rice are submerged in fluid
2. Place casserole dish (covered) in oven, drink any remaining wine
3. Wait for a couple hours, periodically checking to see if rice is soft.
4. Once rice is soft its ready to eat.

Variations

1. If you turn the oven hotter it'll cook faster. The whole point of the low heat is you can start this Saturday afternoon, forget about it for most of the day, and then have dinner ready.

1. Also works over a campfire.