imple Vegetarian | Recipe of the Month (maybe): Coconut Rice with Greens

There become some query in my thoughts as to whether or not the dish we had ultimate night definitely certified for Recipe of the Month fame. Way again once I first added my Veggie of the Month posts lower again in 2013, the concept turned into that trying masses of latest veggies and quit end result would encourage me to make culmination and greens a bigger part of my weight loss plan average. And that purpose has stayed consistent, at the same time as I've changed my real plan to achieve it?First locating out to interchange from new stop result and veggies to new fruit and vegetable recipes, then restricting myself to most effective soup and salad recipes, and in the end growing my necessities to encompass any recipe that facilities on fruit or veggies. In short, the issue of the entire workout is to devour a more veggie-centric food plan.

Now, this recipe certainly contains vegetables, but I'm still not sure it really meets that standard. The dish as originally presented in the New York Times, "One-Pot Turmeric Coconut Rice With Greens," certainly looks like it contains a reasonable amount of veggies, but the amount of green stuff it actually calls for—"1 medium bunch kale, spinach or Swiss chard"—is kind of vague. When Brian discovered the recipe, he decided to pick whatever amount of arugula we had left in our garden that hadn't bolted yet and call that "1 medium bunch," but based on the result, it was probably a considerably smaller medium bunch than the creators of the recipe had in mind. As you can see from the picture, by the time he got all the greens cooked and stirred into the rice, they looked more like a seasoning than a main ingredient.

Mind you, this shortage of veggies wasn't a major shortcoming for the dish. It was still quite tasty, with a faintly Caribbean flavor from the coconut milk, lime juice, and lime zest, and a touch of crunchy texture from the toasted coconut and sesame seeds. (Speaking of crunchy, the bits of rice that stuck to the pan and browned slightly turned out to be even tastier than the rest of the dish.) But as we discovered, it really wasn't substantial enough to make a whole meal by itself. Brian had a notion that maybe if we cooked the rice in the pressure cooker with some chicken, the way we make the "Chicken-Rice Roger" out of Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book, that could serve as a complete meal—but that wouldn't really be consistent with our goal of reducing the amount of meat and dairy in our diet.

Our conclusion: As is, this dish isn't really worth making again. It's not hearty enough for a main course, and it's a bit too much trouble to go to just for a side dish. If we ever make it again, we'll try modifying it, as I notice many of the commenters on the New York Times article did. One "added chopped snap peas, beet greens and prawns [shrimp] that steamed in the last 5 minutes"; another "added firm tofu with the greens." Either of these changes—along with beefing up the volume of greens—might make this substantial enough for a complete meal. But for the time being, we'll probably shelve it.

Since this dish is a little bit of a stretch as a Recipe of the Month, I'll keep my eye out for new veggie and fruit dishes that we can try in June, and I'll add a new Recipe of the Month post if we manage to find something more appropriate. If not, I'll let this stand as the Recipe of the Month for June and promise to make it up to you with a proper vegetable or fruit dish in July.