Just a quick one here. I’ve been slack again putting recipes up so I’m trying to get back into it and get stuff up a bit more regularly. I made a really simple rice dish that I used to make years ago, I suddenly thought about it while I was in the shop thinking about what I should eat for dinner. So I thought I’d give it a go.

So it’s a really simple rice dish, you will need:

• 1 cup Basmati rice (by cup I just mean grab a tea mug and fill to the top with rice. Use the same cup to measure out the stock)
• 1 onion diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 1 large or 2 medium courgettes diced
• 1 green and 1 red pepper (capsicum) diced
• 2 cloves of garlic finely diced
• handful of mushrooms
• chicken or vegetable stock. if you don’t have any of your own home-made stock then try to get one of the fresh pouches of stock. If you cant afford this or cant get hold of it that fine, just use a stock cube but try to get a good quality one. They do exist with a bit of hunting. Just make up the stock if using a stock cube and add boiling water or bring your fresh stock to a gentle simmer in a pan.
• sweet paprika
• turmeric
• ground ginger
• salt
• pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• fresh green chilli
• sour creme
• 1 or 2 fresh ripe tomatoes

1. ok so dice up the onions and carrots. Pop a large deep saucepan on a medium heat, let the pan heat up then add olive oil. Now add the carrots, onions and garlic. Stir around and add some salt and pepper. Keep cooking this slowly until everything softens.

2 Now add the red and green peppers, turn up the heat and keep stirring around. Give it a few mins then add the courgettes and mushrooms and add a touch more salt and a good few grinds of pepper. Keep cooking for a few more mins then add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 2 teaspoons of paprika. Keep stirring gently for 2-3 mins until you start to smell all the tasty spices. Now add the cup of rice to the pan and stir well. Keep stirring for 1 min then add 2 and a bit cups of the stock. Stir well, bring to a simmer then pop on a lid and turn right down to low.

3. Let this cook for about 15 mins and most of the liquid should absorb into the rice. Try to leave the lid on for the majority of the cooking time. You want to have a little bit of liquid left so it’s not too dry. You can always add more liquid at the end if you think it has gone too dry. Once it’s done just turn off the heat and pop the lid back on to keep warm. If it goes a bit dry as you are going to serve it just add a splash more of stock or water and give it a stir.

4. Serve this with some diced green chilli and fresh tomato with some sour creme.

You can serve it with your meat of choice or have it just like this if you’re a vegetarian. Today I fancied prawns. I just simply pan-fried them on a high heat with a little salt and pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon. It’s kind of like a paella but with less faff.

Sorted