Delicious All-Natural Rice and Vegetables Recipe

This rice and vegetables recipe is one of the many healthy ways of cooking this versatile grain. We should add peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and garlic to rice’s nutritional and preventative properties. The combination makes this dish especially beneficial for:

• The intestine, due to rice’s regulating action upon the bowel movement, especially when this is whole grain rice. Peppers and eggplants supply fiber, which also facilitates defecation. In this way, the dish prevents illnesses associated with constipation, such as intestinal diverticula formation, hemorrhoids, and colon cancer.
• The eggplant’s action on the liver and the gallbladder gently aids the emptying of the gallbladder and the secretion of pancreatic juice. This is why the dish is appropriate for long digestions caused by bile disorders or insufficient pancreatic juice.
• Prevents cancer, especially stomach and colon cancers, due to the protective action of fiber and beta-carotene in peppers. Eggplant and garlic also contain anticarcinogenic phytochemical elements.
• The arteries and the heart, due to the low sodium content of the dish—if one limits the addition of salt—and the zero level cholesterol. Those who wish to maintain their heart and arteries in good condition and prevent high blood pressure and heart attack should frequently eat rice and vegetables.

Rice and Vegetables Ingredients

• 12.3 oz of whole grain rice
• 1 eggplant
• 1 baked red pepper (bell pepper)
• 1 tomato
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 cups of vegetable broth (without salt)

Additional ingredients

• 8 tablespoons of olive oil (each tablespoon of oil adds around 120 kcal to the recipe, that is, 30 kcal per serving)
• Sea salt

Preparation

1. Soak the rice in cold water all night or hot water for one hour.
2. Wash and chop the eggplant.
3. Peel the red pepper and cut it into strips.
4. Wash and crush the tomato.
5. Peel and chop the garlic.
6. Heat the oil in a big, flat frying pan and saute the pepper and the eggplant.
7. Add the tomato after a few minutes and stir for two more minutes. Add the rice once it has been rinsed.
8. Keep stirring and add the boiling broth.
9. Add salt and stir. Simmer for about 5 more minutes.
10. Add the chopped garlic and reduce heat enough for simmering until the rice is done—tender, loose, and dry.
11. Take Off from the stove and let sit for 5 minutes.
12. Serve hot.

Healthier alternative: Instead of sauteing the ingredients, add them raw to the boiling vegetable broth.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Servings: 4

Nutritional Value (per serving)

Note: To bake the pepper for this rice and vegetables recipe, place it in a hot oven at maximum temperature until tender and the skin separates easily. Take it out of the oven and let it cool in a covered pot. Once it is completely cool, peel, cut, open, and remove the seeds.  

The pepper can also be roasted or flamed over an open fire. In these cases, the skin may become black, and washing may be necessary. To preserve peppers, place them in a glass jar and boil in water for 40 minutes.   For long preservation, freeze in a plastic container or plastic bag. It will be ready to use in this or any other recipe.

REFERENCES

• George D. Pamplona-Roger, M.D. “Encyclopedia of Foods and Their Healing Power.” George D. Pamplona-Roger, M.D. Encyclopedia of Foods and Their Healing Power. Trans. Annette Melgosa. Vol. 3. Chai Wan: Editorial Safeliz, 2005. 266, 267. Print. [rice and vegetables]