Time for a spontaneous recipe! Something I came up with last week in my kitchen……seasonal, wholesome and delicious! Why eat plain brown rice when you can have a one pot goodness filled rice instead.
This kind of reminds me of my mum or grandma’s cooking, but a healthy vegan version！
CHESTNUT & MUSHROOM BROWN RICE
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups brown rice (pre-soaked 6-8 hours)
- 0.5 cup roasted Chinese barley/coix seed/job’s tears (ideally pre-soaked 2-8 hours) (pictured below)
- 8-10 shiitake mushrooms, diced
- 12-15 chestnuts, chopped (roasted, steamed or pre-cooked)
- 10-12 green beans (四季豆)- optional
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
-3 tablespoons water
-half a white onion, diced- optional
-salt & pepper to taste
-1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
- garnish with toasted sunflower seeds or sesame seeds- optional
Method
-cook the rice & barley together in a pressure cooker or separate pot
-prepare your vegetables
- in a separate pot on medium heat sauté the onion with oil until golden brown, add the diced green beans and mushrooms and stir
- add the water (may need to adjust depending on the size of your pot) and simmer on low heat for 1-2 minutes
- add the soy sauce, chestnuts and cook for 3-5 minutes on low heat, checking there is still enough soy sauce/water liquid so the vegetables don’t dry out
- once all the vegetables are cooked, with a good amount of flavoured soy sauce now in the bottom season with salt & pepper and stir
- turn off the stove and wait for your rice to finish cooking
- when the rice is cooked scoop out one portion and/or enough into the vegetable pot to mix thoroughly and coat the rice with sauce and vegetables. The ratio is up to you.
This is a really satisfying rice dish, rich in flavor from the mushroom and chesnuts and filling with the brown rice and barley. So many functional benefits too; fiber, liver qi boosting, dampness removing from the barley, sweet flavours from the chestnuts & onions for our spleen, and stomach nourishing Chinese xiang gu mushrooms. I love food therapy & creating delicious meals.
And remember we need nourishing and full flavor foods, especially in winter, so get cooking and looking after yourself!
I hope you enjoy this, and please let me know in the comments below if you make this and any variations you try or how you adapt and create from this recipe.