Whether you are choosing a more health-conscious diet or have chosen to live a vegan lifestyle - Going veggie doesn’t mean that have to give up flavour…..Enjoy!
Preparation time: 15 min Cooking time: 1 hour Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- pinch saffron threads
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 baby eggplant; quartered
- 1 medium red onion; peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic; peeled and chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes; seeded and finely chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper; seeded and sliced thinly
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 3/4 cups arborio rice
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 lb green beans; trimmed and halved lengthwise
- 1/2 cup pitted black olives
- 3/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 medium lemon; cut into wedges
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan add stock and water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add saffron, stir, and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, stir, and cook for 5 minutes until browned. Remove eggplant from pan.
- To the same frying pan, add onion, garlic, tomato, bell pepper, and paprika. Stir in rice. Stir in stock mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, keep uncovered, for 20 minutes or until rice is nearly done.
- Add peas, beans, and eggplant, cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add olives. Just before serving top with parsley. Serve with prepared lemon wedges.
