Heavenly Vegetarian Rice

During my visit to strawberry picking farm, I picked up some vegetables too, green and yellow beans, and zucchini.

When I came home and thought of all the fresh vegetables that I have decided to make a vegetarian rice recipe.

The amount of rice used for this dish is very low and if you are on a no carb diet, you can use the same recipe for the sauce and just serve it with salad or quinoa.

To sauté my vegetables I use a type of pan that requires very small amount of oil.

This spicy vegetables goodness is extremely delicious and light.

Serving 4-6

Prep and cooking time 1 hour

Ingredients:

Green Beans 2 cups

Yellow Beans 2 cups

Zucchini 1 (2 cups sliced)

Eggplant 1 (2 cups sliced)

Carrot 2 (2 cups sliced)

Onion 1 medium

Tomato 1

Tomato Paste 2 Tbsp

Basmati Rice 1.5 cups

Spices: Black Pepper, Turmeric, Salt 1 tsp

Chili Pepper 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon 1/4 tsp

Prepared Saffron 2 tsp

Baby Potatoes 5 (for tahdig)

Oil

Directions:

1. Wash the basmati rice and soak it

2. First wash and peel the vegetables, then Batonnet cut the carrots, zucchini and eggplant and set aside

3. Clean and cut the green beans, same size as the rest of vegetables, cut the onion vertical slices (half moon) and dice the tomato

4. Use a frying pan and sauté zucchini and eggplant together, transfer to a plate and set aside

5. In the same pan, sauté the beans and carrots, transfer to a plate and set aside, then use the same pan and repeat this step with onion

6. Once the onion is slightly caramelized, add the turmeric and chili pepper and stir.

7. Then add the beans and carrots, and mix. Tomato paste is next. Continuously stir till tomato paste is completely mixed with the rest of ingredients

8. Now you can add the cut tomatoes, rest of of spices, and 1/2 cup water, stir, cover and cook on medium low till green beans are cooked (10-15 minutes)

9. While waiting ,bring water to boil for rice in a nonstick deep pot. Then add the rice, and few drops of oil

10. Once all the vegetables are cooked add the eggplant- zucchini, and saffron, slightly stir and cover. Put the temperature on low

Check the rice, it should be longer in size and easily break with your nail

Strain it using a rice strainer

11. Peel the potatoes, slice, wash and completely dry using a kitchen towel or paper

12. Add oil to the bottom of pot, add the potatoes side by side, filling the entire space

13. Watch the video for this step: Add the rice covering all the potatoes, then a layer of prepared vegetables sauce (I kept the vegetables mainly in the middle) repeat this step with another layer of vegetables and rice (finishing all the rice, but keeping some vegetables sauce) Make the surface completely flat, then add the rest of the sauce, make it flat. Cover the pot, and put the temperature on medium high for 2 minutes, then cover the lid with a kitchen towel and cook the rice for 20 minutes on medium low.

14. Now it’s the time to flip the rice in a nice serving plate and serve it with your favorite side dishes