So easy. So good. And you can customize it depending on the kind of rice you use.
Brown Rice with Asparagus, adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 c. rice (your choice – see note below) OR 3 c. precooked brown rice
- 3 c. liquid for rice — chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water (only if you’re not using precooked rice, obviously)
- olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cans garbanzo beans
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 1 c. almond slivers
- salt
- Tahini Dressing:
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 c. tahini
- zest and juice of one lemon
- 2 T. olive oil
- 2-4 T. hot water
- salt
Instructions:
1) Make rice. The recipe suggested using frozen precooked brown rice. I love the rice blends in the bulk section of Whole Foods, so that’s what I used. You also have your choice of what liquid to use when cooking the rice. Water would be fine, but I used chicken broth to give the rice extra flavor (plus I always have chicken broth cartons on hand).
2) Make the tahini dressing. Whisk the garlic, tahini, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, water, and salt together. Start with 2 T. of hot water and add more if you want the dressing thinner. My tahini was thick, so I used 4 T. of water.
3) Chop onion and press garlic. In a large pan with a lid, cook onion and garlic (uncovered) in olive oil until they become translucent. Add a little salt.
4) Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. Add to pan and cook for a few minutes.
5) Cut the asparagus into 1 inch pieces. Add to pan and cover. Cook for about 2 minutes, until asparagus is bright green. Do not overcook. You might need to add a little more salt.
6) Stir in the rice and add the tahini dressing. Stir in the almonds, or let everyone add almonds to their individual portions.
