Xander Eats: Yellow Rice

Just so that the usual meal ideas I use to cook for my family don't just sit in the recesses of my brain, I'm going to start writing the recipes down on my blog. Mostly for my own benefit because sometimes I don't cook the dish for 2 weeks and the next time I decide to, I can't remember exactly how I'm supposed to cook it.

Most of these recipes happen to be stuff that Xander enjoys eating and so are toddler friendly. I'm hoping that putting it down on my blog here would inspire other parents to cook more for their little ones, and expand their repertoires so that our little ones get to explore and sample all kinds of flavours and expose them to a larger variety of foods in the early years, which is so important to developing positive eating habits.

Anyway, today I cooked "yellow rice" for our dinner and it's one of Xander's all-time favorites. So I thought I'd start with this.

Yellow Rice

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of extra light olive oil*
1 small brown onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
Half a teaspoon of ground cumin
2 cups of basmati rice, washed**
2 cups of reduced-salt chicken stock***

Directions:
1. In a large frying pan or saucepan, heat oil on medium high heat.
2. Lower heat and add onion and garlic. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes until onions are slightly translucent and soft. Try not to burn the onions and garlic.
3. Add turmeric and cumin. Stir to combine and fry for about 2 minutes to release the flavours.
4. Add washed rice to frying pan and stir to combine. Spices should coat most of the rice evenly. 
5. Stir in chicken stock, mix well and bring to a boil.
6. Pour everything into the rice cooker pot and set to cook. 

Recipe notes:
* I use extra light olive oil for most of my cooking now. You can use any vegetable oil, or even butter which would give it a rich creamy flavour. Please don't use extra virgin olive oil, which should not be heated and definitely not used for frying.

** I've experimented with different types of rice but found that basmati rice works best because it's not as starchy as jasmine or brown rice. Any long grain rice should work well.

*** For the chicken stock, I never use stock cubes especially when cooking for Xander. Stock cubes usually contain too many artificial additives especially MSG and anti-caking agents. I only use reduced-salt chicken stock with no added preservatives, flavourings, or colourings - only ingredients listed are chicken, water, vegetables, and herbs. Homemade is best, but I don't get time to make my own so I choose the next best option. Also, adjust amount of liquid according to your specific rice cooker. Oh and other stocks like vegetable stock will work too.

From prepping the ingredients through to pouring everything into the rice cooker, it doesn't take me more than 10-15 minutes. The rice cooker does the rest of the work! Oh and alternatively, if you don't have a rice cooker (who doesn't?!), put it into a casserole dish, cover with foil tightly and pop it into the oven preheated to about 190 degrees celcius for about 40 minutes until rice becomes fluffy and all liquid is absorbed. You might have to take it out halfway to stir things around a bit.

A little bit of extra work to jazz up our usual staple of rice and kids usually love the vibrant colour and yummy flavours. Adds a bit more spice to our dinner table.

This turmeric rice recipe works amazingly with other dishes like curry, satay chicken, roast chicken, garlic stir-fry vegetables, etc.

This amount is what I usually cook for our dinner and lunch the next day. So 4 adult portions and 2 toddler portions. Adjust according to how much of a rice lover you are. If you don't have enough stock for more rice, just stir in extra water and sprinkle some extra salt in if you like.

Usually for Xander, I stir in some frozen peas, red capsicum, chopped carrots, mushrooms, and some protein like chicken or prawns and he gobbles it up. Oh and eggs. Fried egg or scrambled egg works well and add a good serving of nutrition for the little ones. If they don't like the texture of eggs, fry it up with a serving of rice like egg fried rice and they'll be none the wiser ;)

For adults, a fried egg, some luncheon meat, a bit of sambal chilli... Yums. Easy lunch. Not what I would eat regularly as part of my healthy diet (the luncheon meat part) but sounds delicious ;)

This rice keeps in the fridge well overnight and actually becomes more flavourful the next day so cook extra and you won't have to worry about lunch the next day!

Oh and I've also cooked large portions of this rice for visiting friends when we are hosting a meal and it always goes down well.

It's nothing AH-mazing and absolutely fantastic, but my family loves it. So that's good enough for me :)