Vegetables and wild rice

Until my friend Bala sent me wild rice, I had never seen or heard of this grain. It just did not look like rice, it was like thin broken dried grass. Click this link to see a picture of uncooked wild rice. She asked me specifically not to eat this rice with sambar or any indian dish. So finally yesterday I decided to try it out. It came out pretty well - exceeded expectations :)

The rice itself had a good taste. White rice does not have any taste or nutrition, so I've always loved Kerala rice(the big round ones). Wild rice tasted better than the Kerala rice, thanks Bala. I have some more wild rice, I might try a different recipe in the next couple of weeks.

This is a vegan, sathvic recipe.




Ingredients:
Wild rice - 1 cup
Carrot - 1
Green beans - 10
Asparagus - 5
Mushroom - 5
Tomato - 2
Salt and pepper - to taste
Lemon - 1/2
Thyme , marjoram, basil - 1 pinch of each
olive oil
bay leaves - 3
coriander leaves - 1/2 cup


Method:
Wash the rice once and add it to a pan with boiling water. Add some salt and 3 bay leaves and let it cook for 45 minutes.
Drain the rice and remove the bay leaves. Keep it aside
Cut the mushroom into small slices
Cut the green beans into 2 inch long pieces
Remove the base of the asparagus and cut into 2 inch long pieces
Peel the carrot and cut into round slices
Heat a wide pan and add 1 spoon of olive oil. After a minute, add the mushroom and saute till it turns brown
Remove the mushrooms and add 3 more spoons of oil to the pan
Now add the beans and carrot and saute for 5 minutes.
Add 1/4 tsp of thyme, marjoram, basil, salt and pepper
Then add asparagus and cook until the vegetables are 75% cooked (I overcooked them this time)
Add finely cut coriander leaves and mix the rice with these vegetables.
Remove from heat and add fresh lime/lemon juice

Steamed Broccoli
Steam the broccoli until it is half-cooked
Then in a small pan, add one spoon of olive oil
Add broccoli, pepper, pinch of salt, cumin powder and ginger powder and saute until it is crisp and cooked(test with a fork)

Serve the rice with Steamed broccoli