July Food Month (With Recipe!)

So for this month we did another Eating Challenge, to only eat homemade (or at least the very least, prepared at home) food. It went pretty well!!!! Since it's been so hot, we've had a refreshing salads with every meal... I got a salad spinner a while back and I love it! Not only for the obvious, being able to get the water off the greens, but because I can store the salad in it and it's super air tight so it stays way fresh for days. A miracle. 

I can definitely say though, that it was a challenge. Last time I think we did it in November and it was a little easier because there were more HOT meals to get excited about. This time around it there have been more days of me being like "wahhhhh it's too hot" halfway through cooking. Needless to say we've had quite a variety of cooler foods this month. I could definitely use some more good cool food ideas.

The thing that I was probably most proud of, was mini eggrolls. MMMM!!!!! So good. We stuffed em full of all kinds of veggies, rice and tofu... that was a super fantastic meal, looking back on it. We made curry broccoli with tofu, egg rolls and fresh wasabi.... it was awesome!!! Here's a pic of the eggrolls... we fried em up (they fry soooo fast it's awesome) and ate the crap out of them!!! We used a lot of different stuff for the eggrolls and they were all awesome except for the ones stuffed with sundried tomato soft cheese and cucumbers.... those were disgusting. Actually, Mels ate quite a few of those but they were not good.

Yum, greasy food!

Okay, so now, onto the recipe... It's for Smog's Awesome Spicy Rice!!!!! I usually have it with black beans :) This is good for two cups, you can adjust it of course, super easily just remember the Rice Equation!

What you need:

~They say a dutch oven works best but I don't have one (I know, I suck) so I just use a big pot with a lid... the lid is crucial of course! It needs to be pretty tight fitting but don't freak out about not having the right tools. It's all good.

~White Rice

~ One can diced tomatoes (you can use fresh if you have an aversion to canned for some reason)

~One can El Pato (The little can with the duck, any of the varieties work)

~Fresh Garlic (I put a ton... if you don't like garlic you don't have to put as much)

~One large white onion (Same as garlic... I like a lot !!!! )

~One (or more) Jalapenos, fresh of course... It is called Smogs Awesome Spicy Rice after all...

~Broth (I use vegetable bullion cubes but any will do, whatever you like)

~A little bit of oil

So, here is the equation for rice,

 EQUAL PARTS OF: (1 cup of each, 2 cups of each, 3 cups of each... 3 cups is a shitload for a family meal)

~ White Rice

~ Tomato Puree (You will make this in a minute)

~ Broth (I just heat water and use bullion... if you have a kitchen helper, they can pick the flavor :) Broth is too expensive and I don't boil enough shit down to have stock on hand )

Here's what you're gonna do:

1) Preheat your oven to 350°F ... If you don't have an oven, you can let it simmer on the stove top but the bottom will probably get a little scorched... still good though, I have made it that way camping.

2) Rinse your rice under cool water... this prevents it from sticking together and getting mushy and gross. Rinse it in a mesh strainer and let it drip the water out while you do the next few steps. You don't want it to be watery when you cook it in a few minutes, so try to get it pretty water-free.

3) Bring to a boil your broth (It's a good idea to make more than you need just in case)

4) In a food processor (I have a cool Quisinart thing that makes it super easy), puree half of the white onion, the can of tomatoes and the El Pato.

5) Dice the garlic, onions and jalapenos

6) Now that you have your broth, puree, rice and veggies all prepped, you can start to cook the rice. In your pot (or dutch oven if you're a fancy bastard), pour a little bit of oil, enough to coat the pot at least but not too much!!!*** You're gonna want to have it on a medium high flame. You will know the oil is hot enough when you throw a grain of rice in and it starts to jump around. Dump the rice into the pot, be careful if the rice has water it will not mix kindly with the oil, don't get burned!!!!!! You can use the pot lid as a shield if you're really worried about it. As soon as you put all the rice in, it's all good. I like to use a flat wooden spatula tool, so if you have one, use that. I personally wouldn't trust a plastic tool. Cook the rice until it starts to get really nice and golden and a little transparent... maybe around 5 minutes, maybe longer. You will have to use your eyes to tell when it's done. Don't let it burn but also let it cook... in other words, don't stand there over it messing with it every second. Let it cook, occasionally stirring. 

7) After it looks nice and golden, add the diced veggies and let them cook for a few minutes until they start to smell really fragrant and good... don't let the garlic get all brown and burned. You can turn the heat down if it's cooking them too fast.

8)  Add the Tomato Puree, it will be noisy and steamy but it's all good. You want it to come to a simmer, it shouldn't take too long (Like 30 seconds maybe) and then right away,

9) Add the broth (which, since you're already simmering/boiling it, is nice and hot) and bring the whole thing to a simmer on the stove top... stir it up nice and good so all the ingredients are all gettin steamy with each other... at this point, your eyes are gonna be burning from looking into the pot and gettin all that good stuff up in your eyes, so put the lid on the pot and take a step back from your oven, let it come to a boil and regain your dignity. Sometimes this step requires a kitchen helper :)

10) After a few minutes on the stovetop, the pot is ready to go into the oven for 30-35 minutes. VERY IMPORTANT: you put that lid on the rice and you need to KEEP that lid on the rice. DO NOT take the lid off. You will totally ruin all of the work you just did. Just put it in the oven, set the timer, and walk away to do something else for a while. 

11) After 30-35 minutes, take the rice out of the oven but let it sit with the lid on for at least 5-10 minutes. Now you can finally take the lid off and see how awesome it looks!!!!! Fluff it with a fork and Ta-Da!!!! You now have a bunch of awesome, amazing, spicy rice!!! Hey, and it's vegan even!!!! I like to serve this with black beans, salad with tons of awesome stuff and tacos or tostadas.

Okay, go make it and tell me what you think.

Love ya!
Smog

***It's good to have a bit of extra oil in the pot because it makes the rice all good at the bottom... I made this for Giselle and some of her friends, one of whom is Iranian and she was so totally stoked on the crunchy rice at the bottom of the pan!!! She was all "MMMM!!! CRUNCHY RICE!!!!!!!!" She told me that's how they make rice in Iran and she gave me major props for that... I was so proud :) :) :)