People don’t notice that this dish is vegetarian as it’s bursting with flavour. During cooking, the chilli in the sauce tastes very strong, but don’t be discouraged as once served with the rice and crème fraiche the balance is perfect.
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Preheat oven to 200oC/400oF/Gas Mark 6
Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 courgette, diced
- 1 small aubergine, diced
- 1 red pepper, de-seeded and diced
- 2 teaspoons groundnut oil
- 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 100ml water
- 400g can kidney beans, drained
- 160g brown rice
- 1 tablespoon fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons crème fraiche
- 1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
Preparation
- Tip all vegetables into a non-stick roasting tray and roast in the oven for 20 minutes until soft.
- Heat the oil in a large heavy based pan. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic, cumin and chilli and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Tip in the tomatoes, tomato puree and water. Bring to the boil and add the roasted vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes, add the beans and simmer gently over a low heat while you cook the rice.
- You may want to add more water to the sauce if it thickens up too much.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the rice and cook for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and tip into a bowl. Stir the coriander through the rice.
To Serve:
- Serve family style so that each person can portion up following the rule of palm. Each person to get a lime wedge to squeeze over their dish and a dollop of crème fraiche.
Jennifer’s Tip
- This bean pot freezes exceptionally well, so make it in large batches and freeze in portion sizes to take out as and when for convenience.
This recipe is from Jennifer’s book, The Balance Diet available on Amazon (The Orion Publishing Group). Dan Jones Photography