I need to start this post by praising my new kitchen toy… I bought a insta-pot online (I know this sounds super cheesy already) BUT my old vintage stove is really a piece of work, and struggles to do much other than hard boil, I have no simmer or low settings, so as you might imagine making rice in a pot can be so very challenging. I was looking for a rice cooker, specifically one without a teflon cooking basket, but it seems they just don’t make them without hazardous coatings on them anymore?! My friend sent me a link to instructions on how to cook rice and beans using a pressure cooker, I gave it a go and viola wonderful! perfectly steamed rice and cooked beans in just minutes. The trouble now was my pressure cooker is actually a HUGE pressure canner (and made of aluminium) it also is a chore to get it boiling on my stove and not scorch the stove top. Basically I was back to looking for rice cookers when I stumbled upon the instapot. This is an electric pressure cooker / slow cooker / and rice steamer. It’s programmable and best of all there is no non stick anything! The cooking pot is stainless steal (and good thick steal at that).
The day the pot arrived I was having friends for dinner and opted to do two whole pork loin roasts and make pulled pork… which was pretty good, well cooked, but I will work on the liquid amounts in future, next I made quinoa (in 8 minutes perfectly), then baked brown beans (a total flop… but more on that later), and finally a perfectly cooked pot of brown basmati rice TADA! I love this thing! Especially these days when I am busting my but in the garden and feeding 3 grown men + me and the little one regular hearty meals on time! This thing is really saving me all sorts of time and effort.
Today I made lunch rice bowl for the crew and with the help of this new toy It took al of 10 minutes to put these beautiful bowls on the table. I adapted the whitewater glory bowl dressing to put a mediterranean spin on it, and the results were divine!
Start by cooking 2 cups of brown basmati rice
In a large mason jar mix up this roasted red pepper dressing:
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp italian red pepper spread
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup apple cidervinegar
2 minced cloves of garlic
S+P
3/4 cup hemp oil
1 handful of dried oregano crumbled
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
shake shake shake and set aside (you can keep this dressing in the fridge for a couple weeks)
In a large bowl combine:
1/2 of a cucumber chopped into bit sized pieces
1 cup of feta cheese chopped into bit sized pieces
2 large canned whole fire roasted red peppers, sliced thin
2 cups of chick peas (canned or cooked)
1/2 cup of hemp seeds
Toss with a good amount of dressing and set aside to soak up the flavours (this will keep well in the fridge too)
Now assemble, cooked rice along with some salad greens and the marinated chikpea salad, drizzle with some more dressing and garnish with extra hemp seeds and some more oregano.
When you serve these you’ll look like a veggie rock star chef and you don’t even have to break a sweat.
eating with S.O.L.E. 
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