Rustic Rice with Oven Grilled Vegetables

Today its raining since morning, a cold and wet day feel like cooking something more earthy and rural. I am planning for a brown rice recipe which is considered to be more healthy yet rustic. In much of Asia, brown rice is associated with poverty and wartime shortages, and in the past was rarely eaten except by the sick and the elderly because as it has high fiber content. This traditionally denigrated kind of rice is often now more expensive than common white rice, partly due to its relatively low supply and difficulty of storage and transport. I am making a herb brown rice and layering it with boiled potato tossed in homemade pesto sauce. Serving it with some low fat oven grilled vegetables.

Ingredient:

Brown rice:                 1 cup (soak in water for 1 hr)
Spring onion:               2 medium long stems
Potato:                        1 large
Fresh Basil
Fresh Parsley
Parmesan cheese:        2 table spoon
Pine nuts:                     2 table spoon
Olive Oil
Garlic:                          4 large cloves
Garlic powder:             1/2 tea spoon
Butter:                         1 tea spoon
Lemon Juice
Seasonal Vegetables:    2 cups cut in medium size chunks (I an using beans, broccoli, onion, eggplant, carrot & capsicum)   
Kosher salt to taste
White pepper

Method:
1) Wash and dry all cut seasonal vegetables. Add salt, pepper, 1 table spoon olive oil, 1 tsp butter, garlic powder and 4 table spoon finely chopped parsley and basil leaves. Mix well and grill it for 20-25 minutes turning the vegetable twice in between. Keep it hot.
2) Peel a large potato and slice it. Boil it till fully cooked.
3) For pesto sauce, grind together 1 cup fresh basil,  2 table spoon parmesan, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 garlic cloves and 1 table spoon lightly roasted pine nuts.
4) Toss the boiled potato slices in pesto sauce and season it with salt and pepper. Set aside
5) For herb brown rice, heat some olive oil in a pan and add 1 table spoon minced garlic. Add finely chopped spring onion. Toss it for a minute and add the rice. Pour 4 cups of water and season it with salt. let it cook until the water run dry and rice is well cooked. Turn off the heat and mix 1 cup of finely fresh basil and parsley leafs. Season it with white pepper. Mix well and cover it for 2 minutes.
6) To assemble use a bowl or a mould put some rice at the bottom then layer it with pesto potato in between and again cover it with rice. Take out the mould and top it up with grilled vegetable and sprinkle some lemon juice.

BON APPETIT..

Aubergine Delights ( Feta stuffed Brinjal with caramelized onion sauce)

Aubergine, Eggplant or Brinjal several names, several shape and sizes but make a delightful recipe. Almost all the cuisine has their favorites recipe from this humble vegetable. It is often stewed, as in the French ratatouille, or deep fried as in the Italian parmigiana,  the Turkish karnıyarık or Turkish and Greek musakka/moussaka. Eggplants can also be battered before deep-frying and served with a sauce made of tahini and tamarind. Best-known Turkish eggplant dishes are İmam bayıldı (vegetarian) and Karnıyarık (with minced meat).It may also be roasted in its skin until charred, so the pulp can be removed and blended with other ingredients, such as lemon, tahini, and garlic, as in the Middle Eastern baba ghanoush and the similar Greek melitzanosalata. Indian and Pakistani dish baingan ka Bhartha or gojju. Unlimited varieties

I tried to do some experiment with this humble veggie and came up with this delicately flavored Feta stuffed roll with caramelized onion and tomato sauce topped with some breadcrumb and Parmesan. Finally baked to perfection. It has a french feel and flavor to it.

Ingredients:

Aubergine:            1large (Sliced lengthwise )
Yellow Onion:      2 large
Feta Cheese:        5 table spoon ( crumbled)
Tomato:               1 large (finely chopped)
Mozzarella:          1table spoon
Tomato ketchup:  2table spoon
Garlic powder
Garlic cloves:       2large
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Bread Crumb
Parmesan cheese
Black pepper
Salt to taste
Olive oil
Butter
Crème Fraîche
Milk

Method:

1) Cut the aubergine lengthwise in thin slices of 0.5 cm and sprinkle it with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Set aside for 15 minutes.
2) Heat 1 spoon olive oil in a nonstick pan and roast the slices from both the side till soft and brown.
3) Heat some butter in another pan and add onion juliennes to it. Toss it continuously until it caramelizes and turn golden brown.
4) Take half of the caramelized onion and add feta, mozzarella, salt, pepper and dried basil. Mix well and make equal portions of it.
5) Put the cheese mixture at the end of the roasted aubergine strips and roll it. Place it in a oven safe bowl with open end below. Make all the rolls and queue it up.
6) For the sauce heat some oil in a pan. Add dried oregano, crushed garlic and tomato to it. Season it with salt and pepper. Toss well and add remaining caramelized onion to it. Cover and simmer it for 10 minutes. Add tomato ketchup.
7) Put the sauce in a mixer and make a paste of it. Add 1 spoon crème fraîche and some milk if the sauce is too thick to get the desired consistency.
8) Pour the sauce in the bottom of the oven proof dish. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs and grated parmesan over the roll and grill it at 150 degree Celsius for 15 minutes.
9) See breadcrumb and parmesan turning brown and the sauce boiling its time get it out and dig into this appetizing wonder. Enjoy it with your favorite french bread.

BON APPETIT..