There was this container of cooked brown rice sitting in the fridge forever, and I was itching to use it up. I tried on a few tentative plans for it for size, but they were all falling into the category of when you buy $20 of additional ingredients to use up 97 cents of leftover food. The compost was starting to look like the best option. Finally, on Monday I got home from a contentious meeting on whether the food co-op should build another driveway, and turned it into sweet sour brown rice with mushrooms and cashews. This is based on a recipe of Mollie Katzen’s. In the original Enchanted Broccoli Forest (1982), she had a recipe for sweet & sour tofu with mushroom and cashews. The sauce was made out of lemon juice, soy sauce, tomato paste and honey, seasoned with ginger and garlic. To me, the combo was somehow especially delicious, and it was something my kids (who didn’t come along until later in the ’80s, 1987 & 1988) would eat, too. In the rewrite (2000), Mollie changed the recipe all around, to include pineapple and oranges – I have never tried it – it might be equally delicious – but doesn’t have the appeal to me of the old version, so I’ve had to keep my old, cover detached copy of the book.
Sweet & Sour Brown Rice with Mushrooms and Cashews
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 TBLS soy sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 TBLS – 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- half a large onion, sliced
- 2 TBLS minced ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed or put through a press
- 2 TBLS vegetable oil
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
- 3-4 cups of sliced mushrooms
- 3-4 cups of cooked brown rice
- 3/4 cup roasted cashews
For the sauce, whisk together the lemon juice, soy sauce, water, honey and tomato paste in a small bowl and set aside. Pour the oil into a wide skillet and heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger, salt them, and stir fry until softened. Add the carrots, and cook them until they’re softened, and then add the mushrooms. Mix all together and cook for a few minutes until the vegetables are releasing their juices. Add the rice, mix again, and then make a well in the center and add the sauce. Mix well, and cook until the rice has soaked up the sauce and everything is nicely combined. You can cover it for a few minutes if you like – you can cover it earlier to help the carrots get done, too. Add the cashews, mix well, and eat.
Be sure to really mince (or grate) the ginger – I was in too much of a hurry to chop it small enough, and biting into those big ginger pieces is not fun – that’s what those bits on the side of my empty bowl are – picked out ginger.
