Recipe: Veggie stir fry with coconut rice

As with all cooking, I encourage people to adjust things to taste. This is a concoction that I really enjoy, but you can just as easily skip the wild rice and go with all brown (though you'd be a fool). I used a lot more hot sauce than I indicated below and more mustard and chile, but not everyone likes spicy food like I do. But so help me, if you defile this recipe with a green bell pepper... I will find you in your home and rip that freaking pepper out of your hand. And then compost it.

For the rice:
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup wild rice (soaked overnight if you have time)
1/2 cup short grain brown rice (soaked overnight if you have time)

For the stir fry:
1 Small yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic- minced
1 Yellow or red bell pepper, chopped
A big bunch of swiss chard, chopped (probably about 6 cups, once chopped)
2 medium carrots, chopped
A little olive oil for frying
1/2 t Chile powder
1/2 t favorite hot sauce
1/2 t mustard powder
1/2 t ginger powder
Salt to taste
Sesame oil to taste
A touch of maple syrup (optional)


For rice:
Put water and coconut milk into a saucepan and add wild rice. Cover. Bring to boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, then add brown rice and continue simmering until done. Don't stir! When rice is done, remove from heat, but allow it to sit covered in the pot for about 10 minutes to steam. Fluff with a fork to bring wild rice to the top.

For the stir fry:
Heat olive oil on medium heat in large frying pan with spices and hot sauce. When it's hot enough, add the onions and some salt. Cook until soft then add garlic, bell pepper, chard and carrots. The chard will cook down, so don't worry if the pan overflows and you can't add it all at once. Adjust salt and continue to stir fry until chard is cooked down and veggies are extra-tasty. If the chard is a little more bitter than you'd like, add a touch of maple syrup (don't go overboard). Remove from heat and add a little sesame oil.

Serve veggies over rice. Oranges make a great dessert after this yum-fest.

Serves: 2