I haven’t touched my dutch oven for a long time now. It’s been sitting quietly inside my kitchen cupboard, waiting patiently for my return. At long last…!
I was browsing through my list of recipes using the dutch oven and I realised how much I miss cooking rice with it. The results are almost always fantastic – a pot of rice with deeply infused flavours and a nice soft (not mushy) texture. The taste of the rice that I’ve cooked in my dutch oven, including the Cast Iron Pot of Mushroom and Cauliflower Rice and A Delightful Plate of Lebanese Mujaddara (Lentils and Rice) are deeply ingrained in my mind. I wish I could take a bite of them now!
And then I realised that all of them have one thing in common – they are almost always vegetarian, with the rice cooked and infused with the natural flavours of the accompanying ingredients such as mushrooms, lentils and cauliflowers. These ingredients are the favourites of my little munchkin so it’s very difficult to avoid altogether. I must say though, both the hub and I have gotten to love them as much as the little one does. Given that this dish is an all-in-one pot with different flavours coming from not just the mushrooms but also the herbs, vegetables, cream and butter, it’s definitely a healthy meal to have at home at any time of the day. Try it!
Ingredients:
- Rice: 1.5 cup
- Salt: 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp
- Garlic: 1 clove + 1 clove, finely chopped
- Thyme: 1 sprig
- Water: 6 cups
- Butter: 1 tbsp
- Olive oil: 2 tbsp
- White mushroom: 340g, sliced
- Brown mushroom: 50g, sliced
- Leek: 1, sliced
- Ketchup: 1 tsp
- Plain flour: 2 tbsp
- White wine: 1 cup
- Broth: 3 cups
- Ground blackpepper: 1 tsp
- Soya sauce: 1 tbsp
- Heavy cream: 1/2 cup
- English parsley: 2 stalks, chopped
Method:
- Add rice, 1 tsp salt, 1 clove chopped garlic, thyme and 6 cups of water into a pot.
- Cook for 5 – 10 min till tender. Drain and set rice aside.
- Heat butter and olive oil in dutch oven.
- Add white and brown mushrooms, 1 clove chopped garlic, leek and ketchup.
- Leave to cook for 10min.
- Sprinkle flour over mixture. Stir till it starts to stick.
- Add in white wine and broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10min.
- Add in cooked rice, blackpepper, 1/2 tsp salt, soya sauce and heavy cream.
- Leave to cook for 5min.
- Stir in half of parsley, then garnish with remaining parsley to serve.
Disclaimer:
-
The original recipe from Saving Room For Dessert’s ‘Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup‘ actually calls for wild rice to be used and with lesser rice as well so that it becomes a soup with rice rather than a rice dish in itself. I decided to add in 1/2 cup more rice (which turns it into a risotto-like dish) as the weather began to turn really hot these days and having hot soup in the house would make all of us perspire doubly hard!
Serving:
2 persons
