Radioactive 'Fu and Rice of Blah

There's a lot going on in my life, at least internally, at the moment.  For the last couple of weeks month my eating habits have been fierce wretched, and I've been stuffing myself with fast food and junk and avoiding exercise to a pathological degree.  This week I've pulled things back together and am now off caffeine, off sodas (for the moment), way down on sugar, and hauling my ass back toward veganism.  I'm also doing an herbal cleanse--nothing extreme, just a detoxifying kit I've done before with good results.

Meanwhile I'm trying to cook again, and let me tell you, it's hard. It amazes me how quickly my conditioned response to "what's for dinner?" becomes "drive thru." I have to physically force myself not to look at fast food joints as I drive past. 

Wednesdays are a free night for me; I don't go to Nia, I don't usually have any plans, so I have the time to make a more complex dinner if I want instead of throwing something together before I fall over. Tonight I decided to try two new recipes, one I'd been eying for months and the other that was, well to be honest, Sleep Cooking.

(For more on Sleep Behaviors, read this post at Dancing Down the Moon wherein I discuss the pros and cons of Ambien.)

I've had Nava Atlas' Vegan Express for a long time and only tried a handful of recipes out of it, but the Thai Pineapple Fried Rice has intrigued me since I first bought the book.  It has a fairly long ingredient list for me (usually if it's more involved than "potato, salt, pepper, heat" I shy away), but I figured, what the hell? 

It's similar to a Pineapple Cashew Quinoa recipe in Veganomicon, which I think I'll try next.  I'm an oddball in that I don't especially love rice--with the exception of the heavenly basmati they serve at the Clay Pit here in Austin, and a couple of recipes I've used to enormous success, it's just not my thing. And, as I suspected, if I were to make this again, I'd cut way back on the rice and leave the veggies at the same portions. 

(Both cookbooks, incidentally, are available via my Amazon affiliate store, Shopping Towards Ahimsa.)

As you can see, the rice is beautiful, featuring a rainbow of tasty colors.  It also smells fantastic.  Unfortunately it turned out painfully bland, which I think was due to my own error as well as a total lack of added salt in the recipe.  (Two tablespoons of soy sauce in a whole dish is just not enough salt for a NaCl slut like me.)

I also think my curry powder might be partially to blame, and next time I'll invest in better quality. There are as many formulas of curry powder as there are recipes using it, and the run-of-the-mill McCormick stuff is, well, CRAP.  Do yourself a favor and buy curry powder from either an online shop or an ethnic market, or at least someplace like Whole Foods with more than one variety.

Thirdly I accidentally bought an 8oz can of pineapple instead of a 16, and believe you me, it makes a  huge difference in the flavor. And don't skimp on the cashews, either; they make the dish much more satisfying.

Here, then, is a recipe for Thai Pineapple Rice, modified for those of us who want a higher veggie-to-starch ratio. 

What You'll Need

A
1 c basmati rice, rinsed
1 1/2 c water
1/4 tsp salt

B
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 c diced onion (or just dice up a medium-sized onion and don't screw around with measuring)

C
2 c broccoli (small florets, frozen is ok)
1 c diced carrot (that's like 2 carrots, or a handful of baby carrots)
1 diced red bell pepper

D
1 can petite diced tomatoes, well drained
1 16oz can unsweetened pineapple chunks, well drained

E
1 c light coconut milk
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp fresh minced ginger (jarred is your friend)

chopped cashews

Let's Get it On!

1 - Combine (A) in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Back heat down to a low simmer and cover, cooking until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.  If you suck at rice like I do, keep a sharp eye on the pan so it doesn't stick or something else terrible.

2 - About ten minutes before the rice is done, heat the oil in a great big freaking pan and cook the onion until golden.  Now, you could leave the oil out to lower the fat, which I did, but I think that was a mistake; that little bit of healthy fat distributed throughout the whole recipe is not that much but it adds a nice depth of flavor.

3 - Add (C), crank the heat, and cook about 4 minutes until the carrots are starting to soften and the broccoli is insanely green.

4 - Add (D), cook another minute or two. While that's cooking combine (E) in a measuring cup and whisk with a fork until blended.  This will keep the curry from clumping up on you, and makes it easier to mix into the rice.

5 - Stir the rice into the pan, then pour (E) over and stir the whole thing carefully (face it, no matter how big your pan is there will be rice and bits of carrot everywhere) until everything is all mixed up.  Taste for salt.  Seriously. 

Serve sprinkled with chopped cashews.  Makes enough for six or so.

Really, this stuff would be a meal in itself, but the other night while I was high on Ambien I decided to marinate some tofu, using the Curry Tofu recipe from Veganomicon.  It's been hanging out in my fridge since then, so I browned it in a pan with a tablespoon or so of olive oil.  It was fabulous, but as it was cooking it seemed to get yellower and yellower and yellower, until I had...

RADIOACTIVE TOFU OMG!!!

  I think next I'm going to try the aforementioned quinoa recipe and see if I like it better...of course, it's going to take me eighty years to eat all of this rice, and by then I'll probably be sick to death of Thai Pineapple Anything.

Oh--and just FYI--on a completely unrelated yet still foodish note, asparagus roasted in the oven with olive oil and salt/pepper is the awesomest awesome that ever awesomed.  Pair it with some roasted red potatoes and possibly an Italian marinated 'fu dish, or a fakey meat of some kind, and you've got a little slice of heaven that will make your pee smell funny.

Comments

[Lyra]

I hear you and thank you for your writing! I am an off the wagon vegan trying to get back on again as I have been struggling with some inner turmoil myself of late (see also: SATURN RETURN). I want to say thanks for sharing, and vegan express is my newest favorite cookbook find and I have loved what I've tried so far.