Cook a Nutritious Low Cost Rice Vegetable Side Dish

Times are tough, but let us not sacrifice nutrition and flavor in the name of saving money. Here is a low cost rice/vegetable dish that will feed four as an entree, or six as a side dish. A rice cooker makes the cooking a snap, but the stove top method also works very well.

Ingredients

 * 2 cups of rice
 * 1/2 package of frozen vegetables
 * 1/2 onion
 * one medium carrot
 * Cumin, nutmeg, and turmeric.

Steps

 * 1)  Decide what you want to add to the dish.  Clean out the refrigerator, and use up those 1/2 filled bags of mixed vegetables in the freezer.  This example will make use of 1/2 an onion, one medium carrot, and 1/2 bag of frozen cut green beans.
 * 2)  Dice the onion into small (3 mm - 1/8" ) pieces.  Scrub, carefully peel, then quarter  and cut the carrot into 6 mm -1/4" sections.
 * 3)  Place the onions, carrots, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric into a sauce pan. Add 6 ml - 2 tablespoons of cooking oil.
 * 4)  Heat the pan until the onion absorbs the oil, do not soften or brown.
 * 5)  Turn off the heat, and add 2 cups of white rice.  Stir the mixture until the rice is coated with oil.
 * 6)  If you use the stove top, add 500 ml (about 2 cups) of cold  water to the sauce pan.  Place the green beans on top of the mixture.  Heat covered until the water is absorbed and the rice and vegetables are cooked. This takes about twenty minutes.
 * 7)  If you use a rice cooker, put the contents of the sauce pan into the cooker, and add 360 ml (about 3 cups) of cold water.  Place the green beans on top of the mixture.  Cover and wait until the cooker finishes.  Ours takes about fifteen minutes.
 * 8)  Enjoy.

Tips

 * I added no salt; we use soy sauce. This is just personal preference.
 * We enjoy this as a side dish, but as a low cost, low fat main dish it is also very good.
 * A handful of soaked beans is also good.
 * Try setting the onion skin on top of the rice while cooking, the rice will have a slightly different color and flavor. Remove the skin before serving.
 * Read the package the rice comes in. Here in the U.S. many varieties of rice should not be rinsed before cooking.
 * Brown rice, which has a different texture, takes much longer to cook, and will require much more water.
 * Cinnamon, cardamon, and chili powder are also good. Variety is the spice of life.
 * A small box of raisins placed on top of the rice before cooking makes this sweet nutritious treat.

Warnings

 * Always be careful when working with knives.

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Make Garlic Hummus
 * How to Make Coleslaw
 * How to Cook Yellow Rice
 * How to Make Blueberry Dumplings