At Beacon Hill Bookshop, we found an intriguing cookbook, Vegan Africa, by Marie Kacouchia. This evening we tried her recipe for a West African dish of Lebanese origin. Here’s how we made it, with modifications:
First, heat a large saute pan (we used The Ultimate Pan) with 1/4 cup olive oil on medium-high heat. Add 3 chopped scallions and 2 large minced garlic cloves, lower heat to medium-low, and saute until softened (a few mins).
Second, fold in 1 1/4 cup basmati rice (rinsed and drained), 4 oz vermicelli broken into shards (see Note below), 2 tsp curry powder (we used McCormick), 1 tsp coconut palm sugar, and 1 tsp grated ginger. Then add 600 ml (slightly over 2.5 cup) hot water mixed with 1 cube vegetable or chicken stock (we used 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon concentrate), and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat to medium-high for 3 mins, then keep covered and lower heat to Low for 7 mins.
Third, while the vermicelli rice is cooking, toast 1/2 cup cashews in the toaster oven at 325/350 until browned (maybe 5 mins), then set aside.
Fourth, fold in 8 oz baby spinach (if too large or thick, coarsely chop) and 1 Tbsp minced parsley to the vermicelli rice mixture; you may need to add the spinach in steps so that it can properly wilt. Then just before serving, fold in the toasted cashews.
We served this vermicelli rice with oven-roasted cauliflower florets (we had tossed in a canola oil, salt, and pepper before roasting at 425 for about 25 mins). This vermicelli rice was delicious and was reminiscent of both Rice-a-Roni and Singapore noodles (with lighter seasoning). We’ll definitely make this again. (Feb. 2023)
Note: For the vermicelli, we used Colavita angel hair nests. A 16 oz bag contains 9 nests, so we estimated that 2.5 nests = 1/2 cup = 4 oz. We broke up the nests by hand into roughly 2″ long pieces.
Note 2: Vegan Africa is available at https://www.workman.com/products/vegan-africa/hardback. The Washington Post also published a version of this specific recipe here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/02/05/spinach-rice-recipe/ However we noticed significant discrepancies in the amount and type of ingredients (e.g., too little olive oil, swapping out the sugar type) between the Washington Post and the cookbook.
Cooking Adventures 