Spanish rice

I have a new best friend in the form of brown rice! It's not like the instant hit of white rice carbs, but brown rice keeps your energy levels powering along. Discovering brown rice has led me to a range of recipes that I'd previously shunned as hippie food or lacking taste. This one is yummy, easy to prepare and makes a lot so you have some for lunch the next day.

Ingredients
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
100 g of mushrooms
1/2 cup of fresh peas or beans
3 tomatoes
1 tablespoon of parsley, chopped
1/2 tablespoon of basil, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
50 g black olives, de-stoned
3 cupfuls of brown rice, cooked
Tamari (a kind of soy sauce, available from Asian supermarkets or stores)

 Method
1. Finely chop the onion and fry with the sliced garlic in a pan with the oil.
2. When the onion is soft, add the chopped mushrooms and peas/beans and cover the pan. Cook for 10 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomato, herbs, seasoning, the quartered olives and lastly the rice. Keep turning the mixture until the rice has heated.
4. Serve with tamari.

Hummus

Hummis is a great food for veggies because it's so versatile. You can have it on a water cracker or on a thick piece of french bread stick or sourdough. It's good for a post-work snack with a packet of Jatz when you can't be bothered slicing an onion yet alone cooking up a storm. Depending on your garlic preference, you can add more if you prefer a bit more garlic breath . . .

Ingredients
400g can of chickpeas, drained and reserve the liquid
1-2 cloves of garlic
15 ml (1 tbspn) light tahini
30 ml (2 tbspns) lemon juice
15 ml (1 tbspn) olive oil
pinch of chilli powder (optional)
salt and cracked black pepper

Method
1. Place chickpeas, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and olice oil in food processor and process until smooth. Add enough of the reserved chickpea liquid to make the consistency like that of lightly whipped cream.
2. Add a pinch or two of chilli powder to give it a bit of a kick (if desired).
3. Season with salt and pepper.

Monica Trapaga's Mexican-style garlic prawns

Ex-PlaySchool host and purveyor of fine wares at Reclaim at Summer Hill (http://www.monica.com.au/reclaim), Monica Trapaga originally shared this recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly (now published monthly!) in March 1996. It's really easy to make, as the hardest part is actually going to the shops to buy the prawns! You can eat them by themselves, but also delicious on a bed of rice sprinkled with chopped almonds.

Note - you can prepare the marinade up to 3 hours in advance.

Ingredients
1 kg uncooked medium prawns (banana prawns or king prawns if you're rolling in it)
1/3 cup (80 ml) lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tspn sugar
2 small red chillies, seeded, chopped (the smaller, the stronger the flavour so go easy if you're not a red hot chilli fan)
1/4 tspn cracked black pepper
1 tabspn olive oil

Method
1. Peel and devein prawns, leaving the tails on. (This is vile and there is no easy way to it. Just don't forget to pull out the "shit shoot")
2. Combine prawns with all remaining ingredients in a bowl. Cover and put in fridge for several hours.
3. When you pull them out again, drain the marinade from the prawns and keep the marinade.
4. Heat BBQ or frypan, add prawns and cook on both sides until just cooked through (they go reddish ;))

5. Put marinade in with prawns and bring to the boil.
6. Serve prawns with marinade. You can also add rice and steamed snow peas.

I know this recipe isn't strictly veg (apologies to the vegans) but some of us eat seafood.

Pesto

Pesto is easy to make and deliciously tasty! This is a fab recipe. All you need is a food processor . . .

Ingredients
3 - 4 cups of lightly packed basil leaves
1 cup of parsley
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 - 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of pine nuts, almonds or walnuts
1/2 - 1 cup of olive oil (you can also use corn oil, whatever that is)
Approx 1 tsp salt
Method
1. Place basil and parsley into food processor with the peeled garlic cloves, parmesan and the nuts.
2. Using oil, process the leaves, adding up to half a cup of oil until they are finely chopped.
3. Keep adding the oil until the mixture is a dark green paste, just liquid enough to pour. Smell the fresh basil to remind yourself that you are alive.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Store in the fridge, in a glass or plastic container with a lid. Cover with baking paper before you place the lid on to stop garlic smells in the fridge.
6. Use the pesto within 3 months. You can freeze it (wacky!) for longer.
7. To stop it turning black on top, keep it well covered with olive oil at the top.