Vegan Sour Rice on Water/Posen Kisel Oriz na Voda

Almost 2 weeks until Easter. As we are nearing the end of the Paschal fast, the days are getting colder. I am craving more and more warm meals. This little beauty is not only very easy to make but it’s heart warming and handy to take for lunch at work because it’s so easy to reheat it in the microwave. I love the sour taste from the tomatoes. And I also love it with more liquid, almost like a thick soup, paired with olives, pickles (here I have pickled okra) and crusty bread.

There are few rice vegan/posni rice dishes I make (Vegan Clean Rice Pilaf/Posen Chist Oriz Pilaf, Vegan Syrian Riz/Posen Sirijski Oriz, Vegan Basil Rice/Posen Oriz so Bosilok, Baked Rice with Preserved Peppers/Oriz Tavche so Piperki Turshija etc) a this one little gem just adds to my rice repertoire.

Ingredients:

3 tomatoes grated, pulp only
1 small (espresso size) cup rice, uncooked
4-5 small (espresso size) cups water
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Wash the tomatoes and cut in half.

Grate them in a bowl on the coarse side of the grater.

Discard the skins.

Place the rice, the tomato pulp and the 4 cups water in a sauce pot.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer while stirring until the rice is cooked.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Check the thickness and if you wish, add a bit more water, bring to the boil again.

 

Meat Balls & Rice Stew/Pasha Kjofte

Since my mom wasn’t there when I started entering the world of food and cooking (somewhat out of necessity — somewhat pure desire) my two grandmothers were my source of knowledge for cooking and food preparation. This is one of the dishes I learned to make from my maternal baba (grandmother).

Ingredients:

For the meat balls:

• 500 gr mince meat (beef)
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, grated, juice included
• 1 tea spoon dry mint
• Vegeta and pepper to taste
• 3 table spoon bread crumbs
• 1 tea spoon butter
• oil for frying

For the stew:

• 1 onion dices
• 1 red paprika fresh diced
• 1 large carrot thinly sliced
• 1 cup pasta sauce or 3 fresh tomatoes, pulp only, grated
• 1 1/2 (espresso size cup) uncooked rice
• 1 table spoon paprika
• 2 l stock (beef) or water
• Vegeta and pepper to taste
•  1 table spoon dry mint

Preparation:

The meat balls:

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Work the mixture using your hands until everything is well combined.

Form small balls using a tea spoon as a measurement.

Heat up little bit of oil in a deep pot and fry the meatballs until golden.

Set aside.

The stew:

In the same pot you fried the meatballs, add the onion and fry on medium heat until translucent, scrape the sides and the meat residue.

Add the paprika and fry until it collapses.

Add the carrot and fry for few minutes.

Add the tomato paste (or pulp) and fry until it starts changing color, stir and scrape the sides to ensure it stick to the bottom.

Add the paprika, all the spices and the rice.

Fry it just until the rice is covered with the spices.

Start adding water (or beef stock) while stirring; the rice will start soaking up the liquid. Keep adding until the rice starts cooking.

Add the meat balls and add more liquid to get desired stew thickness.

Lower the heat and simmer gently, stir from time to time, until the rice is well cooked through. Keep adding more liquid if required (it needs to have stew like consistency).

 

Vegan Stuffed Peppers/Posni Polneti Piperki

Much like the Vegan Vine Leaf Rolls/Posni Sarmi od Vinova Loza and the Vegan Cabbage Rolls/Posna Sarma od Rasol these are also an all time favorite during lent fast days. All of them have the same filling but different taste: the sauerkraut ones have a tang, the vine leaf ones have a delicate flavor and these have a lovely peppery taste.

Ingredients:

• 6 large peppers
• 300 gr uncooked rice
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 leek diced
• 1 medium carrot grated
• 1/2 cup of oil (can use more, depending on taste)
• 1 dry red pepper finely chopped (can use fresh one too)
• 1 1/2 table spoon mild paprika
• 1 tea spoon cracked pepper
• 1/2 table spoon dry mint
• salt to taste
• 1 l to 1.5 l water-more depending on the rice

• De-seed the peppers, wash and set aside.
• Dice the onion, the dry pepper and the leak and set aside.
• Peel and grate the carrot and set aside.
• Wash the rice under running water and set aside.
• In a deeper pot heat up 1/2 of the oil.
• Add the onions and fry until translucent.

• Add the leeks and fry until they collapse and all the liquid evaporates.

• Add the carrots and a fry until the oil turns orange.

• Add the pepper and fry for few minutes.

• Add the rice and stir through to combine.
• Season with pepper, dry mint, salt to taste and the paprika.

• Stir to combine. No need to cook the rice as it will cook in the oven.
• Let the mixture cool enough to be able to handle it.

• Oil the bottom of a baking tray.
• With a table spoon fill the cavities of the peppers with the mixture, one by one and rest them in a bowl upright so the filling doesn’t fall out.
• Place 2 table spoons each in 6 small piles of the filling on the bottom of the baking dish to make a bed for the stuffed peppers. Place each pepper on top of the filling.
• Scatter the remainder of the mixture between the peppers on the bottom of the baking dish.
• Pour 1 cup of water in the fry pan, stir to wash off all the spices and juices and pour it in the baking dish. Add another 5 cups of water to cover the peppers halfway through.
• Drizzle with a little bit of oil.
• Bake in a preheated oven on moderate until the rice is cooked through and the peppers get a nice char (check from time to time and add a little bit more water if required).

• Serve hot with salad and lots of bread.

Featured here are with a side of pan fried carp and Deep Fried Whitebait/Przeni Cironki (Nivichki, Girici)

 

Vegan Oven Baked Rice/Posno Tavche Orivche

Rice is featured very often on our sofra (table), be it sweet or savory.

This is versatile dish that I love making during lent fast as I don’t have to cook separately for the boys and me. All I do is just make an additional meat or fish dish and serve this rice as a side dish. Everyone happy.

Featured here with Juicy Oven Baked Chicken Breast

Ingredients:

• 1 onion diced
• 2 carrots coarsely grated
• 1 celery stalk and its leaves, diced
• 3 (espresso coffee size) cups of uncooked rice
• oil
• Vegeta and pepper
• 9 (espresso coffee size) cups water

Preparation:

• Place the oil in a bowl, cover with water and let it soak until you start preparing the rest.
• In a deep pot heat up some oil.
• Add the onion and fry until translucent.
• Add the grated carrot and fry until the oil turns orange.
• Add the diced celery and fry until the hard root part starts collapsing.
• While that is happening, drain the rice in a sieve and wash under running water until the water starts running clearer.
• Add to the pot and fry to cover with the aromatics, stir as it can stick to the bottom very quickly.
• Add the water and stir.

(1 cup rice needs 3 cups of water ratio to be cooked perfectly, measure with same cup)

• Season with Vegeta and pepper to taste.
• Bring to the boil and transfer to a deep baking dish.

• Bake in a preheated oven on medium until the rice soaks up the liquid.
• Take out of the oven and give it a stir to break up any grains that have stuck together.

 

Light Spring Stew/Lesna Proletna Mandja

Any dish with lamb is typically a spring dish in Macedonia as by the time autumn starts, there are no more lambs, they’ve grown up and became sheep.

This is a lovely light rice and lamb dish, lighter than risotto, juicier than oven baked or fried rice and much more flavorsome than boiled rice.

See my other rice dishes:

Basil Rice/Oriz so Bosilok

Baked Rice with Yogurt/Jogurtli Tava

Baked Rice with Preserved Peppers/Oriz Tavche so Piperki Turshija

Chicken Cajun and Dirty Rice/Pileshko Kadjun i ‘Valkan’ Oriz

French Onion Rice and Chicken/Orivche so Vkus na Francuski Kromid i Pileshko

Ingredients:

• cc 800 gr lamb meat on the bone
• water for cooking
• 2 onions
• 1 carrot
• 2 celery sticks
• oil for frying
• 2 (espresso size) cups rice
• 1 table spoon Vegeta spice
• 1 table spoon mild paprika
• 1 tea spoon cracked pepper

Preparation:

• Place the meat in a deep pot, add 1 diced onion and cover with water.
• Place on the stove and cook until the meat starts falling off the bone.
• Skim it while it cooks and keep adding water if needed.
• While it’s cooking, dice the other onion-set aside; dice the celery sticks-set aside and grate the carrot-set aside.
• When the meat is cooked, reduce the heat.
• In a separate pot heat up a little bit of oil and fry the onions until translucent.
• Add the carrot and fry until the oil starts becoming brownish from the carrot releasing its goodies.
• Add the celery and fry until it collapses.
• Add the Vegeta, pepper and paprika and stir to combine.
• Add the rice and fry to cover with spices.

• Pour carefully some of the meat broth and stir through the rice.

• Add the meat and break it up in larger pieces with the stirring spoon (I leave the bones as well as I love nibbling on the meat around the bones).
• Stir everything through, check the liquid content and add the remainder of the meat broth.

• Let it simmer gently and keep checking if more water needs to be added (this dish can be eaten with a spoon or a fork and dip fresh, crusty bread in its juices).

 

Arroz Con Pollo/Rise and Chicken/Pilesko so Oriz

Last week the food tech assignment that my son had at school was something authentic from Australia; they prepared it at school with the help of the teacher: https://foodspiceandallthingsnice.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/lamingtons/

This week’s assignment is a choice of an ethnic dish; it has to be prepared at home with the help of an adult, documented, served to family members and feedback has to be gathered. They will be graded for preparation, documentation and presentation (bring it on I say, as the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, hehe). He chose a Latino dish that has two main ingredients that are his favorites: chicken and rise. Good choice I might add, as we all enjoyed it. Once again: a proud mum.

During research, he searched the net and found quite a few recipes and some very interesting facts. After reading a fair few of the recipes circulating the net, we put together our version and learned that this dish has its origins in Andalusia, Spain.Food historians say that it dates back to the eighth century when the Moors occupied Spain and influenced all aspects of their living, including their cuisine. The Moors had a particular focus on the southern region of Spain because from there they had access to the coast where they could exchange goods and to Northern Africa from where they imported their spices. From there onwards, Arroz con pollo became a well known Latino dish with particular popularity in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia spreading through to the Caribbean, Mexico and nowadays all over the world.

Ingredients:

2-3 table spoons olive oil
2 brown onions
4 garlic cloves
6 drumsticks with the sticking bone cut off
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
½ teaspoon saffron threads
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 x 400g can diced Italian Roma tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
200g fire-roasted peeled whole peppers
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh continental parsley
1 celery stalk with the leaves on
Salt to taste
Orange peel and olives for decoration

Preparation:

Firstly to make the chicken stock:

Place the drumsticks, 1 halved onion, the whole celery stick and 2 whole garlic cloves in a pot.
Cover them with 1 litre of water.
Bring to the boil and simmer until the drumsticks are soft when pricked with a fork.
Remove and discard the onion, garlic and the celery stick.

Take out the drumsticks and set them aside. Keep the chicken stock.

Rice:

Dice one onion and 2 garlic cloves; dice the grilled peppers; prepare all the spices. Set aside.

Fry the onion and the garlic in a bit of oil until the onion is translucent.

Add the chicken drumsticks and fry until they become golden.

Add all the spices at once and fry until they become fragrant.

Add the rice and stir to coat it well with the spices.

Add the diced tomatoes and fry for about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock, stir and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes. (If the liquid evaporates and the rice is still not cooked, you can add a bit more chicken stock).

Add the diced peppers and continue to cook until the rice is cooked.

Add the chopped parsley and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Serve hot.