I have been wanting for a long time to show you and all my readers this recipe because it is truly so flavorful. I’m talking about turmeric rice with peas flavored with lemon, a dish I adore—it’s just so good!
It really takes very little time to prepare and serves as a balanced, light one-course meal. Also, since I used both radishes and arugula, you have two sources of cruciferous elements on the plate, which are known for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
It’s a vegan dish and also naturally gluten-free that you can serve hot or cold, like a rice salad. I often make it with fava beans or with a mix of peas and fava beans; I’ll take more photos later and add them to show you. Now enough chit-chat—I’ll show you how it’s done.
You can find other balanced vegan dishes here:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Autumn
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups brown rice
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 3 3/4 cups frozen peas (or cooked fava beans)
- 1 bunch radishes
- 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil (measuring teaspoons (total))
- 2 shallots (or one onion)
- 1 lemon (organic, juice and grated zest)
- to taste arugula
- to taste basil
- to taste salt
- Points per serving = 12 WW points
Tools
- Pan
- Lemon grater
Steps
The preparation of this dish is very simple. First, clean the radishes and slice them. If you bought the bunch with leaves, keep the unblemished leaves—they are very flavorful; wash them well and tear them into pieces.
For the rice, bring water to a boil in a pot, then add a bit of salt and the teaspoon of turmeric.
Add the brown rice to the water, stir and let it simmer until the rice is cooked, stirring occasionally; it will take about 15-20 minutes. If you want to speed up cooking you can soak the rice for a couple of hours beforehand.
Drain the rice and set it aside.
In a nonstick pan pour 2 teaspoons of oil and sauté the shallot sliced. When the shallot has softened, add the peas or, if you prefer, the fava beans. A mix of peas and fava beans also works well.
Add a splash of water, cover and cook over low heat. In about 10 minutes the peas will be cooked.
Now you can decide whether to serve this dish hot or as a cold rice salad.
Pour the rice into the pan, add the juice of one lemon and mix, then taste and adjust the salt. The base of the dish is ready—stop here if you want to serve it cold: perform the next step only right before serving.
Before serving add the sliced radishes, radish leaves if you have them, the arugula, torn basil, the grated lemon zest and the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil.
Our turmeric rice with lemon peas is ready to be served. Or you can, before the last step, store it in the fridge if you want to enjoy it cold as a packed lunch. Either way, it’s delicious.
At home I make this dish often because it’s super quick, I always have the ingredients on hand, and because both I and the Dutchman love it.
Will you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments at the end of the recipe or on Facebook.
Enjoy your meal!
by Giovanna Buono
Storage
As already mentioned, you can prepare this dish and keep it in the fridge for 3 days. In that case, do not add arugula, radishes and leaves, basil, lemon and oil; it’s better to add them at serving time so the vegetables remain crunchier.
Obviously you cannot freeze the finished dish, but you can cook the rice in advance and freeze the cooked rice; it will thaw very well before you add it to the pan.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Which type of rice is ideal for this dish?
I used brown rice, but any type of rice will work, as well as millet, quinoa or sorghum.
If you don’t have gluten intolerance you can also use oats, spelt or whole barley, but cooking will take longer.
