Brown Rice with Garden Egg Sauce
Fluffy brown rice gets topped with a garden egg and tomato sauce cooked in palm oil until tender. Finished with a handful of spinach.
Garden eggs — small, slightly bitter African eggplants — soften down into a chunky sauce here, cooked with tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a bit of palm oil until everything turns tender. Garden eggs hold their shape a bit better than regular eggplant once cooked, so don't worry if they still have a slight bite after ten minutes.
Brown rice underneath keeps the whole plate naturally free of gluten and adds a heartier bite than white rice would, along with a bit more fiber. Chopped spinach stirred in at the end rounds the dish out with some greens, though it's easy to leave out if you'd rather keep it simple.
Spoon the sauce generously over the rice and serve hot. and pair it with a side of stewed greens if you'd like a fuller plate.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice — washed
- 2 cups water — for cooking rice
- 5 pieces garden eggs — washed and chopped
- 1 medium onion — chopped
- 1 clove garlic — minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt — to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper — freshly ground
- 1/2 tablespoon palm oil
- 1/2 cup tomatoes — chopped
- 1/2 cup spinach — chopped, optional
Instructions
- 1Cook brown rice in 2 cups of water until soft and fluffy. Set aside.
- 2Heat palm oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté onions and garlic until fragrant.
- 3Add chopped tomatoes and garden eggs. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 4Season with salt and black pepper. Stir in chopped spinach if using and cook for another 5 minutes.
- 5Serve the garden egg sauce hot over brown rice.