deconstructed brown rice pie

Deconstructed brown rice vegetable "pie"!

Ingredients:

2 C brown rice

2 T toasted mix of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds & salt

2 T tahini

1 sweet potato, sliced into thick circles for steaming

1 egg plant, sliced lengthwise into 10ths

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper

1 punnet button mushrooms, sliced

2 large scallions, finely sliced

1/2 massel imitation "chicken" stock cube

1 bag baby spinach leaves

1 T mirin

1 can tomato soup

1 can tomatoes

1 tsp white vinegar

6 asparagus spears.

Serves 2 starved elephant-men or 4 sensible adults!

Using inspiration from one of my favorite cook books, "let it simmer" by the god-of-cooks Sean Moran, this is my take on his Brown Rice and Vegetable Pie. This is my vegan friendly, oil free version which remains incredibly hearty, perfect for a winter's night and extremely satisfying. 

 Method:

Cook brown rice using the absorption method (~6 c water: 2 c brown rice) 

While the rice is cooking prepare everything else.

Peel and slice sweet potato into big thick circles, then steam until soft in ~ 2 c water in a wok, reserving sweet potato water.

Mash sweet potatoes in separate bowl and set aside.

For eggplant, arrange eggplant segments in a steamer and cover with minced garlic and a good sprinkling of salt. Steam until soft.

To the reserved sweet potato water (which will have reduced to about 1 cup), add the 1/2 massel stock cube and a sprinkling of the sliced scallions (reserving the most part for the spinach), stir over high heat until the scallions are bright green and then add the mushrooms with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper. 

Sauté until just cooked and set aside, reserving the sweet potato/mushroom stock water (of which there should now be only about 1/2 C left).

Check on the steaming aubergine which by this stage should almost be ready to turn off the heat.

To the reserved sweet potato/mushroom water, turning the heat up to high, add all the green scallions and sauté before adding the spinach and a splash of mirin, along with a good sprinkle of salt. Steam down spinach (which will only take a few minutes) and set aside.

If there is any liquid left over from the spinach you can throw that out and then re-use the same pan to make the tomato sauce.

Combine the can of tomato soup with a can of regular tomatoes and add 1 tsp white vinegar to balance the sweetness of the canned soup. Season with salt & pepper if necessary.

While this is heating through, for the final element, throw the asparagus spears on top of the steaming eggplant, until just cooked, literally only a minute or so, then you are ready to plate up.

To serve:

Lay a flat spoonful of brown rice on the plate and sprinkle with toasted mix of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and salt. Drizzle 1 T of tahini over the top of this.

Add 3-4 eggplant segments.

A few spoonfuls of mushrooms.

Some steamed spinach.

2 - 3 spoonfuls of tomato sauce.

A dollop of sweet potato mash.

As the final touch balance 3 bright green asparagus spears atop the stack and sprinkle with another dash of toasted sesame seeds and sunflower seeds.

Serve :)