Recipe: Fried Brown Rice

I have always struggled to make healthy choices when it comes to food. My taste buds just don’t like green stuff. One thing I started doing a couple of years ago was to replace some of the normal things I eat with slightly healthier options e.g. white bread was replaced with granary (and now I can’t stand the sight of white bread anymore. One of those changes for a while was the replacement of white rice with brown. I mean it’s still a lot of carbs to eat but it supposedly has a lot of nutritional benefits. Now if you give me plain brown rice, even with the maddest sauce, I just ain’t having it. Fried rice on the other hand…bring it on. This was a recipe sort of passed on to me by one of my close friends (shoutout to Dolly, wooooooooo lol)  It’s pretty live!

• Prep time: 10 mins
• Cooking time: 35 mins
• Serves: 6 people
• Calories per serving: 462

What you’ll need

• Brown rice – 6 cups
• Olive oil (or preferred cooking oil) – 4 tablespoons
• Onions – chopped, 1/2 cup
• Bacon lardons or pancetta – 70g
• Frankfurters – 2 links
• Prawns – 100g
• Mixed peppers – chopped, 1 cup
• Garlic – chopped, 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli powder or paste – 1 teaspoon
• Curry powder – 2 teaspoons
• Salt – 1 teaspoon
• Thyme – 1/2 teaspoon
• Maggi – 1 cube
• Kitchen foil

Instructions

1. Start by chopping the onions and mixed peppers, then slice the Frankfurters
2. Heat the oil in a big pot (that has a lid but we won’t need it just yet), add the onions and curry powder and fry for a couple of minutes stirring regularly
   [Don’t have the heat too high or it will burn before you blink twice!]
3. Add the pancetta and prawns, stir fry for a few minutes then add the mixed peppers, garlic, chilli powder and thyme
   
4. The peppers  should have started releasing moisture, turn the heat down so the liquid does not evaporate too quickly
5. Add the rice [as I’ve said before, the Nigerian in me always washes rice first by rinsing in cool water till it runs clear] and add 4 cups of water, salt and maggi
6. Stir to mix everything together – the rice should be submerged in the liquid. Turn the heat down to the lowest possible and cover the pot with a square of foil and then with the lid to seal tall the moisture in the pot
7. Leave to steam for 25-30 mins then check the consistency, hopefully the rice should be cooked – fluffy but still firm. If you prefer it softer just let steam for slightly longer.
8. Serve and enjoy!

Final Result