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So with no electricity today, I've had to be more creative than usual and our evening meal is currently on the BBQ.
Yep, I had to clean it first, I had to remove quite a bit of insect life that I didn't need to cook (they didn't get any further than my helpers) and no second chances if you dropped anything either!
And because I'd forgotten to make a note that this makes far more than the 4 portions the recipe claims, I've got enough here for a feast. There is a lot of veg in this and if you are using a brown long grain rice you'll need to parboil it because it won't cook fully otherwise. The original recipe (Veggiestan by Sally Butcher) uses white basmati. My preference is to use brown basmati. The author uses a wok to make this in but I don't have one, so I'm using 2 skillets. They are large and flat so I need a touch more sliced veg to cover both of them completely.
Ingredients
3 large aubergines sliced 10-15mm thick
A head of garlic, smashed and peeled
2 onions, chopped anyhow
1 large or 2 medium courgettes, diced
2 large red pepper (3 medium sized ones) roughly chopped
4-5 tbsp baharat spice mix
1 tsp tumeric
4 tbsp tomato concentrate
8-10 medium large tomatoes (half sliced 5mm thick and half diced)
3 or 4 large potatoes sliced 5mm thick
500g uncooked brown basmati rice (rinsed and drained)
1 Litre vegetable stock
Roasted flaked almonds (optional)
Freshly chopped parsley (optional)
Method
Assembly
P S. If you want to add loads of pictures and not be limited to only 6 per post, just use the media gallery.
Yep, I had to clean it first, I had to remove quite a bit of insect life that I didn't need to cook (they didn't get any further than my helpers) and no second chances if you dropped anything either!
And because I'd forgotten to make a note that this makes far more than the 4 portions the recipe claims, I've got enough here for a feast. There is a lot of veg in this and if you are using a brown long grain rice you'll need to parboil it because it won't cook fully otherwise. The original recipe (Veggiestan by Sally Butcher) uses white basmati. My preference is to use brown basmati. The author uses a wok to make this in but I don't have one, so I'm using 2 skillets. They are large and flat so I need a touch more sliced veg to cover both of them completely.
Ingredients
3 large aubergines sliced 10-15mm thick
A head of garlic, smashed and peeled
2 onions, chopped anyhow
1 large or 2 medium courgettes, diced
2 large red pepper (3 medium sized ones) roughly chopped
4-5 tbsp baharat spice mix
1 tsp tumeric
4 tbsp tomato concentrate
8-10 medium large tomatoes (half sliced 5mm thick and half diced)
3 or 4 large potatoes sliced 5mm thick
500g uncooked brown basmati rice (rinsed and drained)
1 Litre vegetable stock
Roasted flaked almonds (optional)
Freshly chopped parsley (optional)
Method
- Parboil your rice, drain and set aside
- Fry the aubergine slices, browning on both sides, then set aside to cool
- Fry the potato slices, browning on both side and partially cooking, set aside
- Add the garlic cloves, onions, courgette, and red pepper to the "pan" and fry for a couple of minutes till browning, add 2 tbsp of the baharat spice mix, the chopped tomatoes and the tomato concentrate, mix well, cook for a couple of minutes, remove from the heat and set aside in a bowl.
- Time to assemble! Lay the potato slices 1 slice thick to cover the bottom and sides of your cooking vessel.
- Repeat with the aubergine slices, again 1 layer thick.
- Now spoon in the tomato-courgette mixture and flatten it out, pushing it up the sides as well.
- Next lay the sliced tomatoes 1 slice thick, pushing up the sides to make a well for the rice and stock
- Mix 2 tbsp of baharat spice mix with the ruce, and add the partially cooked rice to the well, pushing it down into cracks etc.
- Finally top off with the stock. (It doesn't show in my photos because my rice was almost totally cooked). I sprinkle some more baharat on the top as well.
- Put the lid on the skillet(s) and simmer until the rice is cooked and the stock absorbed or evaporated. If you're using uncooked white basmati, this could be 50-60 minutes. I just left mine coming for 45 minutes using brown rice with 2 skillets on a BBQ. If you wanted to you could also put this in the oven if your skillet or cooking vessel is ovenproof. All options require a lid, so if you're using a wok, you'll need to create one or find something that will act as one.
Assembly
P S. If you want to add loads of pictures and not be limited to only 6 per post, just use the media gallery.
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