"Baby" Risotto

I can't believe I made this! This looks exactly like a risotto, but it wasn't meant to look like this. Everything was rather "accidental". And it's unbelievably healthy. It's 90% vegetables, virtually fat-free, and you feel so full you won't believe there's hardly any meat in it (again, another accidental thing - I just didn't put in enough meat).

In fact, I think it beats those awful dishes I tried at the only organic restaurant I ever went to.

The original title of this dish is "Tasty Rice with Meat & Vegetables" and was taken from Annabel Karmel's cookbook for toddlers.

As usual, I modified it with whatever vegetables I had on hand, and everything was done "to taste".

Here's how I came to be dishing out these "accidental" dinners:

Lately, I have been getting very frustrated with having to make frozen dinners for Little Pixie, rush to feed, bathe and put her to bed before 7pm each night, and then rush to the kitchen to make dinner for Tin Hang Zai and myself. My main quibble was that if I made stir-fried greens for Little Pixie at 5pm, they would turn yellow by the time Tin Hang Zai reaches home each night at 830pm. Not to mention I have to wash dishes till 10pm each night thanks to this routine!

So I have been trying out these one-dish meals that just one-time cooking at 430pm, and then a 5 min reheat once Tin Hang Zai returns home late at night. 90% of the dishwashing is completed before 7pm. No more dishes to wash except for 2 serving plates, 2 sets of cutlery and a tiny pot.

This is one of them.

Directions (Original Recipe) (My modifications in Blue)

Rice

1/3 cup white rice (3/4 cups white short-grain Calrose rice (that's all I had at home!))

4/3 cup chicken stock (3 cups water)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped (1 red and 1 green bell pepper - just felt like buying more at the wet market!)

1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen (no peas at home, just lots of supersweet frozen corn)

Others

1/2 onion, finely chopped (used 2, because we love onions)

1 carrot, finely chopped (skipped, used leftover shitake mushrooms which I'd soaked for another dish but hadn't used)

1 cup lean ground beef (used pork slices cut up finely with scissors, cuz that's all I had in the freezer, seasoned generously with salt)

1/2 tablespoon ketchup (Just poured in as much as I felt like it, plus some Prego's Pasta Sauce)

a few drops Worcestershire sauce (just poured in as much as I felt like it)

Oil for sauteing

Spring onion (my favourite vegetable seller gave me lots this morning) - this is what gives the dish a bright cheery green because the green pepper loses its bright-greenness after prolonged cooking.

Directions

• Put rice into saucepan, cover with chicken broth. Bring to boil, cover & simmer for 15 min (please monitor carefully, my rice sputtered all over the stove!)
• Add red bell pepper and peas and cook, uncovered, 6-7 min, or until rice is tender and no liquid left (ditto above - but I had to add salt to the rice and some Prego's sauce at this stage to give the rice a bit more taste)
• Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, saute onion and carrots in a little vegetable oil for 5 min. Add ground meat & cook, stirring, till browned. Stir in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and cook over gentle heat for 10 minutes.
• When ready to serve, mix desired amount of rice & meat and cook over gentle heat for 3-4 min.
• Cut up spring onion into small bits and mix into rice just before serving, for unsuspecting guests
• Freeze the rest.