Asian Vegetables

I really can’t tell you what I was thinking this morning, but I decided to try something outside the square. I wanted vegetables for breakfast. With rice. Asian style! What I got was delicious and well worth a blog post.

[  SERVES: 2  |  TIME: 40 MINUTES  |  COST: $3  ]
[  JOES' RATING:  4  / 5  |  MY RATING:  5  / 5 ]

Ingredients – Vegetables

4 bunches of young bok choy
4 baby corn ears
½ zucchini, sliced
½ cup snow peas

Ingredients – Sauce

¼ cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon teriyaki sauce
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon garlic

Ingredients – Rice

½ cup uncooked brown rice
1½ cups chicken stock

Methods

1. In a small pot, cook the rice in the chicken stock using the absorption method. This will take 20 – 30 minutes. Add water if more moisture is required.
2. In a small pot, blanch all the vegetables in hot water. No vegetables should be submerged in hot water for more than 3 minutes.
3. Warm the chicken stock to be used for the sauce. In a small bowl, mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.
4. Place rice in a bowl and arrange the vegetables over the top.
5. Pour over a little sauce over the dish just as it is being served.
6. Enjoy hot and fresh.

Observations

• I am such a massive fan of hot vegetables and brown rice. The snow peas were a huge hit for Joe and I. Sweet, tender, delicious. You really should give this a try!
• Cooking the rice in stock adds a totally new dimension to boring old rice.  If possible, use your own chicken stock.
• I love to look at how other cultures eat. My heritage is Maltese so I was raised to look at vegetables as being an evening meal thing. Asian cultures, however, look at vegetables and rice as a staple and eat both at almost all meals. Eating this heavier than normal meal for breakfast kept me full until way past lunchtime. Something definitely worth exploring here.
• Diabetic Note: This meal could have been more diabetic friendly by using Basmati rice but I just can’t pull myself away from brown rice. It’s just so darn delicious. As a result, I have to be very careful with my serving sizes but that’s easily done. (I just got an extra serve of greens to make up for it!)
• Ethical Note: I adore the ethics of this dish. The rice I purchase is Nimbin Valley Brown Rice. It is local to me and is a dry rice variety (meaning it requires far less water to grow) and as such, has a much lower carbon footprint when compared to other brands. The vegetables I got were purchased locally from a green grocer (rather than a supermarket) and are mostly local in origin. The chicken stock was home-made using off cut chicken bones and wings. All in all, the meal has a greatly reduced ethical footprint which makes me a happy gal!