The L-Plate Vegetarian

Rice and Noodles

Rice comes in two types, white or brown and in several varieties: Long Grain or Easy Cook (the most commonly used), Basmati (very fragrant – good for Indian/Chinese dishes), Thai Fragrant Rice, Risotto (for risottos – surprisingly!) and Short Grain rice (which is mostly used for puddings).

Most supermarkets now stock a range of flavoured rice which can be heated up in the microwave or oven, for example Pilau rice or Egg Fried rice to go with your curry or Chinese! They also do a really good dried range in packets with herbs, spices and dried vegetables. The Batchelor’s range is listed below, but all supermarkets stock very similar own-brand ranges:

• Batchelor’s Savoury Rice: Golden; Mushroom or Mild Curry flavours. Rices of the World: Indian; Chinese; Tandoori; Sweet & Sour or Thai.

There are also a few rice based ready-meals available, apart from curry and chilli of course, such as Marks & Spencer’s Vegetable Rice.

There are lots of different dried noodles (noodles are a bit like pasta) but check that they are not egg noodles as these will be made with battery eggs. There are lots of flavoured ones (the chicken flavoured ones below don’t contain any chicken). Try the flavoured noodles on their own for lunch or serve with other veg to make stir frys etc in the evening. Or serve them with other dishes instead of potatoes, plain noodles or rice.

Try:

• Batchelor’s Super Noodles: Chicken; Sweet & Sour; Mild Curry or Spicy Salsa.
• Safeway Super Quick Noodles: Chicken; Curry; Prawn or Barbecued Beef.

To cook plain rice & noodles see ‘How to cook the Basics’.

Stir Fries:

In the fresh chilled salad and frozen counters you can get great selections of ready chopped up veggies for stir fries. They are great served with rice or noodles, some even come complete with noodles, rice, pasta and stir-fry sauces. For example:

• Asda: Indian Style Stir Fry (with pilau rice, vegetables, sultanas and curry sauce) or French Style Stir Fry (with diced potatoes, vegetables and creamy garlic sauce).
• Sainsbury: Fresh Noodle Stir Fry (with noodles and vegetables) or Chinese Stir Fry (with vegetables and sauce).
• Safeway: Beansprout Stir Fry (with vegetables) or Chinese Chow Mein Stir Fry (with noodles).
• Tesco: Thai or Sweet & Sour Stir Fry.
• Budgens Mushroom Stir Fry.
• Findus Wok: Classic; Chinese; Thai and Couscous Oriental (the latter a complete meal, served with rice).

Try making your own very simple stir fry using vegetables, cooked noodles or rice:

Cook your plain rice (basmati is good for this) or noodles. In a frying pan or large sauce pan heat a tablespoon of cooking oil, add half a chopped onion, some crushed garlic and any chopped veg you like: red or green peppers, mushrooms, carrots, green beans, broccoli, courgettes, tinned sweet corn, tinned bamboo shoots or water chestnuts, bean sprouts, spring onions etc. Keep stirring on a high heat until cooked (about 10-15 mins) then stir in your rice/noodles, some roasted peanuts or cashew nuts and add one of the many stir fry sauces you can get from supermarkets, such as Sweet & Sour or Black Bean Sauce – Sharwoods make a good range and so do Marks & Spencer. Take care – some Thai sauces can contain fish sauce!

When your stir fry is ready you could serve it with a couple of vegetable spring rolls, try Tesco or Sainsbury Vegetable or Daloon Exotic Spring Rolls.

Risotto

Risotto is really just an Italian version of a stir fry, but the rice is much creamier. A couple of good ready-made risottos are Tesco or Marks & Spencer’s Mushroom Risotto.

Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, you are limited to mushroom flavour risotto if you buy from the supermarket, but you can make your own as there are lots of ideas in recipe books. You use special risotto or arborio rice and you don’t cook it separately like stir fries – you cook it all in the pan – very easy! For a simple version try this:

Dissolve a veg stock cube in 3⁄4 pint of boiling water. Fry half an onion and a crushed garlic clove in a tablespoon of olive or vegetable oil for 3 mins. Add some flaked almonds, chopped up veg eg mushrooms, peppers, sweetcorn (or anything else you fancy) and 75g/3oz risotto rice. Stir for another 3 minutes then add quarter of the stock. Bring to boil, stir and keep the risotto bubbling, then reduce heat. As the stock evaporates, keep adding a little bit more and cook for 20 mins on a low heat. If you use all the stock and need more liquid just add some water. Make sure the stock has all been absorbed before you serve and check the rice is tender and creamy. Serve just on its own or with salad and bread or garlic bread

Next Section: Beans and Lentils