Garden vegetable biryani

This lightly spiced Indian style garden vegetable risotto is a delicious vegan meal in itself, or great alongside other curry dishes.

A variety of vegetables make this a wholesome vegan dish, with protein packed cashew nuts it’s a perfect mid-week meal for menopausal vegans.

Serves:          4

Prep time:     5 minutes

Cook time:     30 minutes 

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• half a cauliflower, broken into florets

• 12 green beans, trimmed

• 1 yellow pepper, finely sliced

• 2 tbsp medium curry paste

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes

• 400g brown basmati rice

• 1-litre hot vegetable stock

• 2 tbsp frozen peas

• 2 tbsp roasted cashews

• juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

• A handful of coriander, roughly torn

• Generous pinch of sea salt

Method

1. Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan over a medium-heat and cook the onion for 1 minute until it begins to soften.

2. Add the cauliflower, green beans and yellow pepper, and saute for a further 2-3 minutes. Spoon in the curry paste, turmeric, cumin and chilli flakes, and stir to coat the vegetables.

3. Pour in the basmati rice and vegetable stock. Simmer over a medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring frequently. If it looks like it needs more liquid pour in a little more boiling water.

4. When the rice is cooked. Stir in the peas and cashews, season with sea salt and cook for a further minute.

5. Remove from the heat and squeeze over the lemon juice and scatter over the coriander before serving.