Monday, March 7, 2011

Peanut and Sesame Rice (Chinese style rice)

I am a big fan of peanuts. They are rich in protein (well, they are rich in fat too), and are a good source of protein for vegetarians like me. Peanuts have a special place in Chinese cooking. That, combined with another major ingredient 'Sesame seeds' bring you this rice today. This is a simple, one pot meal which can be made complete by using more vegetables than what I have used. When I took the challenge of 'Seven days of Rice', I was not only aiming at making rice dishes, but also one pot meals which can be put together in under 30 minutes of active cooking time. If you are pressed for time, this is something you could make easily.
Peanut Sesame Rice

One Year Back -  Rye Bread
Ingredients:
Long grain rice - 1 cup
Peanuts - 3/4 cup divided use
White Sesame seeds - 2 TBSP divided use
Broccoli florets - 1 lb (optional. You could use any other veggie or skip it entirely)
Peanut oil - 3 TBSP
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1/2" piece peeled and grated
Salt - to taste
Chilli pepper flakes - 1 tsp or to taste
Hot sauce - 1 TBSP or to taste (Remember I am Indian)
Soy sauce - 2 TBSP
Rice Vinegar - 2 TBSP (See Notes)
Peanut Sesame Rice

Method:
Cook rice in 2 cups of water (or the ratio that is needed for the rice you are using). Spread on a plate and let it cool completely. If you have day old rice, you could use that too. If you are using broccoli, boil in water for 5 minutes and shock in cold water to stop cooking further. Broccoli I used had started turning yellow and that is the reason for not so good looking broccoli. Set aside.
In a skillet, take 1/2 cup of the peanuts, two cloves of garlic and start toasting it. When they are almost done, add 1 TBSP of sesame seeds to the skillet and let that get toasted. Set aside. When cool to handle, powder in a spice grinder or a blender.
In a wok, heat oil. When hot, add grated ginger, remaining 1 TBSP of sesame seeds and remaining 1/4 cup of peanuts. When they are all toasted, add broccoli florets. Add some salt, hot sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and keep moving the contents of the pan. When most of the liquid have evaporated, add rice. Mix and add the peanut and sesame powder. Mix well and adjust the salt if needed. Sprinkle with chilli pepper flakes and mix for the final time and turn off the heat.
This rice tastes great after 4 - 6 hours of making it. It tastes good immediately too, but the taste was awesome after few hours.


Notes: 
You could use any kind of vinegar, but rice vinegar gives the best flavors when you are using it for asian cooking. You could use any non-mushy vegetable in this recipe. Garnish with spring onions if desired.


Want to see what others are up to today?
30 Minutes Meals: Gayathri Anand
Baked Goods: Monika,
For On Going Events: Gayathri Kumar, Usha
Kids Friendly: PJ, Savitha, Smitha, Srivalli, Veena Aravind
Rice Varieties: Champa, Divya, Padma

Enjoy.

Pin It

24 comments:

  1. Very nice combination. Love to try it..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peanut and sesame in rice,thats truly a flavourful rice, thanks for sharing..

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice rice...good combination....:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. wil try this,have sesame seeds,,,:-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. lovely and yummy rice. you have a nice blog.you can visit my blog and give ur valuable comments.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What is HOT sauce, is it available in INdia?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks everyone for taking time to leave a comment.

    Rekha,
    Hot sauce is pureed red chillies that is available in chinese stores. You could add couple of slit red chillies (that are soft not dried ones) to the oil when you are sauteing it if you don't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice combination and yummy rice !!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This rice looks really tasty and delicious .Nice combination of ingredients.

    ReplyDelete
  10. looks fabulous and great combination....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ooh.. Tempting rice..

    I enjoy blogging , so thought of creating one that will cover all my interest areas including food..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful pictures and I love peanut too..I will try this out sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lovely rice, loved the addition of coconut and peanuts...just perfect !

    ReplyDelete
  14. me too in the peanut fan club!! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  15. flavourful peanut rice ,with sesam seeds.Love ur pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  16. intresting recipe ...looks so yummy

    ReplyDelete
  17. flavorful and yummy!...looks delish...I like indo-chinese style rice...yum!
    Smitha
    Smitha's Spicy Flavors

    ReplyDelete
  18. Interesting recipe,looks fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Must have been very flavourful with sesame in it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Bookmarked it already, looks simply mouth watering :)

    ReplyDelete

If you have a question and you leave it as a comment, I'll surely answer the question to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for visiting.