Rickshaw Rice

When I was much younger and still at school, many moons ago, I collected a series of Better Homes and Gardens Cookery books.   It was like a mini encyclopedia of cookery.  I used them a lot in my younger years and I still dig them out from time to time.  Just because the recipes are old, it doesn't mean that they aren't still useful or delicious.  Recipes like this RickShaw Rice which I garnered from the Speedy Skillet Meals book!

Its quick and easy and makes a great use of storecupboard ingredients!  Tinned pineapple chunks, rice, peas, chopped tomatoes, and yes  . . .  spam.  But don't worry, if you don't like the idea of using spam you could use chopped ham in its place and it would be every bit as delicious.

You can cook rice from scratch, use leftover cold rice, or use pouches of ready cooked rice.  I used a pouch of brown basamati rice, and it worked very well.

I used fresh peas from the garden.  They were beautiful in this.

 

The original recipe didn't call for green pepper, but I felt it would make a tasty addition, and it did.  I also used fresh dill weed from the garden, instead of dried.

I didn't have any cherry tomatoes, so I used an equivalent amount of larger tomatoes, chopped.  They worked beautifully as well.  You don't really cook the tomatoes, they are basically just heated through.

A bit of sour cream stirred in at the end adds another layer of delicious flavour.  Altogethe, this simple and tasty dish went down a real treat!

 

*Rickshaw Rice*

Serves 4 

This not only quick and easy to make, but economical and delicious to boot!  WE loved it! 

1 (12 ounce) tin of luncheon meat, cubed (I used Spam with bacon, 250g tin)

low fat cooking spray

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 small green bell pepper, trimmed and finely chopped

320g of cooked brown rice (2 cups0

1 (460g) tin of pineapple chunks in juice (20.5 ounce tin)

145g frozen peas (1 cup)

1 tsp dried dill weed, crushed

1 small punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved (1 cup)

60g dairy sour cream (1/2 cup)

fine sea salt and black pepper to taste

(You won't need much salt as the meat is salty) 

 

Spray a large non-stick skillet with the low fat cooking spray.  Add the cubed meat, onion and peppers.  Cook stirring frequently, over medium high heat, until the meat is browned and the vegetables are soft.  Drain the pineapple, reserving 6 fluid ounces of the juice and discarding the remainder.  Add the pineapple, reserved juice, rice, peas and dillweed to the skillet.  Cover and reduce the temperature.  

Cook, simmering, until the peas are tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes and sour cream.  Cover and simmer just until the tomatoes are heated through, about 2 minutes longer.  Season to taste with salt and black pepper and serve.  Delicious!

This was delicious!  Economical, colourful and simple to make!

Bon Appetit!