Rice is a staple in our gluten-free pantry and I am always looking for new exciting ways to incorporate it into our meals. This dish uses a technique found frequently in Indian cooking called “blooming”. Blooming or toasting the seeds allows you to be able to infuse the flavor of the mustard seeds into your rice. Just think of it as giving your spices a warm bath in oil, it really is that simple. Feel free to swap up the flavors and try cumin or coriander seed.
Tomato & Mustard Seed Rice (Gluten and Dairy Free)
Serves 4, adapted from 5 Ingredient Fix by Claire Robinson
1/4 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. brown mustard seeds
1 cup long grain white rice
1 1/2 cups strained tomatoes, I only use tomato products that are stored in glass jars. Find out why here!
1 cup water
1/2 cup shredded carrots
salt and pepper to taste.
In a medium-sized saucepan, with a lid, heat the oil over medium heat. When the oil is warm add the mustard seeds swirling constantly, until the seeds start to pop, turn gray, and smell nice and toasty. *You may need to place the lid over the pot for this step because the seeds can pop like pop corn kernels. Add the rice and stir until the kernels begin to turn translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
Stir in the carrots, strained tomatoes, water and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice has completely absorbed the liquid. This step will take about 12-14 minutes. Once all of the liquid has evaporated, turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit with the lid on for at least 10 minutes.
Another way to get big bold flavor without a lot of hassle is by roasting veggies in high-heat to concentrate the flavor and bring out the vegetables natural sweetness. Cut the veggies into similar size pieces, so that they will cook evenly and be sure to not over crowd the pan because that would cause steaming, not roasting. These little roasted beauties are also great tossed with gluten-free pasta or in an omelette and the roasted lemon slices not only lend HUGE lemon flavor to the artichokes but they serve double duty as a really beautiful garnish!
Roasted Zucchini and Artichoke Hearts
Serves 4
3 large zucchini, cubed
1 can artichoke hearts packed in water, drained and sliced in half
1 lemon, sliced very thin and seeds removed
good quality olive oil
red pepper flakes, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 425° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Arrange zucchini skin side down and artichoke hearts cut side up on the baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Lay lemon slices over artichoke hearts so that the juices can drip down between the leaves while they are roasting.
Roast for 15-20 minutes without stirring until veggies are tender and the skin on the zucchini is crisp.
*It is important that the skin of the zucchini has contact with the parchment paper and the flesh is facing up otherwise the skin will not be crispy.
Looking for more gluten-free meal ideas? Every Friday Vegetarian Mama hosts a gluten-free link up, and all of our friends know that I love a good food party!
We are happy to have shared this post on Everyday Vegan Girl for Healthy Vegan Fridays. Follow the link for more vegan recipes!
The picture made my mouth drop. YUMO! My name is Cindy and I blog over at Vegetarianmamma.com I wanted to invite you to link up your recipe at our Gluten Free Fridays Recipe Link up party! It happens every Friday and we’d love to have you join us with some of your awesome recipes! You can find this week’s link up here: http://vegetarianmamma.com/gluten-free-fridays-recipe-party-2/
Also be sure to link up your blog on our Gluten Free Bloggers directory. You can reach the directory by clicking the “glutenfree bloggers” tab on our blog! Thanks, Cindy 🙂
Hi Cindy, thank you so much for the words of encouragement! I would love to participate in your link up party, I am going to head over there and check it out right now.
This looks so delicious, can’t wait to make it! I love rice and zucchini, and especially together.
Thank you, rice and zucchini is one of my favorite combos too!
I just gave your recipe a shout out on my blog: http://mustardandmiscellany.com/2012/08/27/still-talking-about-bone-suckin-mustard/ giving you full credit, of course!
Wow! Thank you so much, that just totally made my day!
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays recipe party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 YAY! Thanks for helping us build a wonderful Gluten Free Community! Its great to connect! See you next Friday! Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Thanks Cindy! We had a lot of fun and will definitely be back to contribute on Friday.
This is so lovely! I am such a fan of artichoke hearts & always looking for zucchini inspiration. I can’t wait to try this. 🙂
Thanks Melissa, I am so glad that you stopped by!
Made this tonight, and it was every bit as delicious as I had hoped! Only the zucchini on the edges of the pan got crispy for me, I wonder if cooking it at a higher temp would’ve yielded more crispy ones (because they were extra good). I used fresh tomatoes instead of tinned because of the season and dumped the artichoke marinade/juice in instead of using water. Thank you!!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it! I use a light colored baking sheet to roast my zucchini and artichokes rather than a darker one so that might also be a factor. I agree the crispy zucchini are fabulous! The addition of the artichoke juice is brilliant, I will be trying mine that way next time. Thanks for stopping by!
Hey! Just wanted to let you know I’m featuring this recipe on Healthy Vegan Friday this week 🙂 Thanks for sharing it and have a wonderful weekend!
This looks amazing! I just found it on Healthy Vegan Fridays and I can’t stop drooling! This will definitely be dinner for me very soon–I love dishes with simple, healthy ingredients and bold flavors 🙂
Thanks Rachel!
This dish looks fabulous!