It was my free day - don't need to go back school - when I made this brown rice pilaf. I also made it for my father and grandma and received good comments! Felt so encouraged...... One thing good about this pilaf is that it is really healthy as whole grains, vegetables and legumes are used. 3 food groups that our Singapore's Health Promotion Board has been encouraging us to eat more of :p. This pilaf is made using an adopted recipe but I made some changes to it to suit what I have in the kitchen!
RECIPE: Serves 3
- 4 cups of water
- 1 cup of brown rice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons chicken broth (Heinz brand is good as it has the lowest sodium amount among all in the supermarket)
- 1 cup onion, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped or minced
- 1 -1/2 cup carrots, grated or sliced
- 1/2 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
- 3/4 can chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 ginger, sliced finely
Put the water and rice into the rice cooker to cook.
Approximately 20 minutes before rice is done, heat the broth in a medium skillet till bubbles appear. Healthy saute the onions , stirring frequently till they soften. Add garlic, ginger and carrots and continue the stir for 3 mins.
Add mushroom and cook further 5 mins. Pour in the chickpeas and cook 1 more minute. When the rice has finished cooking, stir the rice and then add the tomato paste. Stir the rice to ensure the tomato paste is evenly distributed.
Brown rice pilaf is done!
Some notes:
- rinse the chickpeas to get under running water before using. You won't want the liquid that comes together with it in the can.
- you need a lot more water than normal white rice because brown rice needs to be cook longer to ensure softness.
- for details on how to healthy saute, refer WHFoods for the cooking demo. Just find the word Healthy Saute and click on it.
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