Our son and youngest grandchildren had been here all weekend and much as we love them and we have great fun, there is always a lot of tidying up of toys, books, games etc. and stripping of beds afterwards. Come dinner time, we were all ship-shape but tired, we wanted a quick and easy dinner.

My husband wanted rice so he put some brown basmati rice to soak while we sat down and had a cup of tea to get our breath back and for me to come up with whatever was going to accompany the rice!

Stir-fry is often my go-to option, I don’t like standing a long time waiting for different elements of a meal to come together, it’s not good for my back and I don’t have the patience!

I don’t cook on a very high heat like most people when cooking a stir-fry, I don’t think it’s healthy, I tend to part stir-fry, part steam, just adding a spoonful of liquid and some tamari and/or lemon juice to help it along without destroying nutritional content.

The rice is always soaked for an hour and then strained and rinsed thoroughly to remove as much arsenic as possible. Even organic rice takes up some arsenic from the groundwater.

On this occasion, we had some mixed beans to use up, and I had already made a jar of vegan parmesan a few days beforehand, so there was only the broccoli and apricots to chop.

Beans, rice, peas and nuts are an excellent vegan protein combination, and with the veg provide b vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, healthy fats, and dietary fibre.

Ingredients

A little Coconut Oil

 Broccoli, chopped finely

Frozen Peas, allowed to thaw

Tinned Mixed Beans, rinsed

Grated Carrot

Spoon of hot Water Or Stock

Tamari

1 Tsp Maple Syrup

Lemon Juice + a little zest

Black Pepper

 Chopped Dried Apricots

Homemade Vegan Parmesan: Almonds ground with Nutritional Yeast and in this case a little Cayenne Pepper

Method

Put the rice on to cook. Don’t overcook it.

About ten minutes before it’s ready:

Heat the oil and stirfry the broccoli without burning it, add the peas, the tamari, black pepper, mixed beans, water, a squeeze of lemon, maple syrup, half of the carrot, cover and cook for a few minutes.

Add the cooked rice with the rest of the carrot, apricots and some lemon zest, mix well but gently so the rice doesn’t go all mushy. Adjust the seasoning, bearing in mind there is a little cayenne pepper in the parmesan!

Serve in/on a hot dish or plate, with vegan parmesan sprinkled on top and a green salad.

 Copyright: Chris McGowan