Nutty Vegetable Rice Casserole

Submitted by Elise and family

"This sticks to the ribs! A hearty one-dish meal with comforting flavour and lots of good protein and vitamins. An excellent meal if you want something that fills you up like a meat dish, but is not a meat dish."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 2-3

ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup rice, uncooked
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 8 large beet leaves, chopped
• 3 big carrots, chopped
• 3 tablespoons onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup almond butter
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• salt and pepper, to taste

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Soak rice in water for ten minutes (in the pot you will cook it in).
2. While rice soaks, mix almond butter and milk throroughly in a small bowl. Set aside. Begin to chop carrots, onion, garlic and ginger.
3. Drain and rinse rice, and add fresh water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on medium-low for eight minutes.
4. While rice cooks, saute carrots, onion, garlic and ginger in a pan with olive oil until they begin to be tender. While these are cooking, stir occasionally and chop beet greens into bite-size pieces.
5. When rice is cooked, turn off heat and let stand, covered, for ten minutes.
6. While rice stands, add beet greens to vegetable saute and cook until just tender. I prefer not to overcook these so you still have a variety of textures in the casserole and it doesn't turn into a "blob".
7. When rice has stood for ten minutes, remove lid, add almond butter and milk mixture, and stir thoroughly. Add vegetable saute mixture and stir thoroughly.
8. Pour mixture (should be very thick) into a medium casserole and top with paprika and a bit of salt.
9. Cook at 375 for ten minutes, covered. Enjoy!

Reviews

[sunnymila]

I made this with almond milk (easy vegan alternative) and it was very delicious! A little overpowering in the almond butter... so maybe next time I will use another half cup of rice. And definitely more beet leaves, carrots, ginger, and garlic. I think it was great to start out with but could be improved. I was pleasantly happy with it, nonetheless.

 

[SarasotaCook]

This was very good, made for PAC 2010. made as is in 2 batches, so I can judge correctly. As is I really did like it, but it lacked something for me, so in my batch I made just a couple minor adjustments. I added some celery to the carrots and onion, the subtle flavor worked well with the other flavors and it was soft, but with still a nice crunch and to the top of the casserole, I added toasted almonds to add to the almond flavor which I liked. But it has a very good flavor, very hearty, I certainly enjoyed it! Nice dish

 

[VeggiesPhorMe]

We liked this recipe a lot. Definitely does leave you feeling nice and full. The almond flavor was really quite nice with the ginger and paprika. Good blend. Needs a bit of salt when serving to really bring out the individual flavor of the carrots and beet leaves. Thanks for posting this!