Day 156.
We’re having English pea brown rice risotto today. I have this magnetic wipey board in my pantry on which I’ve made a makeshift pantry-planner and menu planner. I even tack up the invoice from my CSA box to remind myself what fresh produce I have in the fridge. Yet somehow I STILL thought I had snap beans this week.
Alas, what I actually had are English Pea Pods. So, I ended up shelling peas during my leisurely afternoon coffee yesterday. I’d originally planned on adapting a Thai Green Beans recipe to a Thai Snap Beans dish.
Once I discovered my inability to read my own fancy pantry checklist, I realized I’d need to adapt it further. So I looked around to see if English Pea Pods are edible. They are.
But they seem a little on the rough side compared to say, snow pea pods. To make sure I didn’t make a completely stinky stringy dish, I kept the pods somewhat separate and added them in later when I discovered I liked the taste and texture. But they are most certainly stringier and rougher than the usual edible pea pod.
If you choose not to use your peapods in the dish, you have a couple of other options. One of my favorites would be to throw the pods into my veggie scraps bag for use in making slow cooker vegetable broth (easy and frugal).
I keep mine in a freezer bag and then just add onion, garlic and my favorite seasonings and water in a slow cooker. Cook it for eight hours and then can or keep refrigerated in a freezer bag or tupperware. Another I saw when trolling the internet for ideas is Lemony English Pea Pod Pesto.
English Pea Brown Rice Risotto
Adapted from Thai Green Beans.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
3 cups vegetable stock
3/4 pound fresh English Pea Pods, shelled and separated (pea pods and peas separate)
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon House seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts
Directions
Oil the pot of your rice cooker.
Place rice, stock, mushrooms, soy sauce and garlic in pot. Begin brown rice cooking cycle.
About 30 minutes before the end of the cycle, spread pods on the bottom of the steam tray.
Add peas on top.
Place steam tray in cooker.
When cycle is complete, mix in peas, pea pods (if desired, if not–set aside for stock or other use) and green onions.
Top with chopped peanuts.
The Results
I really liked the dish all together. The kids did not like the pea pods. That’s not all that strange as Bug doesn’t even like snow pea pods (I briefly wondered if she was actually my daughter when making that discovery).
I’d definitely suggest keeping the pods separate and doing a taste test, especially if you have kids. The rice itself and the peas were fantastic. I absolutely loved it. Bug also added some “shaky cheese” (parmesan) on top of her rice.
Love risotto? Check out millet and bulgur risotto and broccoli risotto, too!
What are you having for Sunday Brunch, Breakfast or Lunch?
This post is shared at·Sundays at One Food Club, Just Something I Whipped Up, Penny Worthy Project, Cookbook Sundays, Savory Sunday·and·Potluck Sunday.
English Pea Brown Rice Risotto Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 3/4 pound fresh peas
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Oil the cooker.
- Place rice, stock, mushrooms, soy sauce and garlic in cooker.
- Cook on brown rice setting.
- About 30 minutes before the end of the cycle, spread pods on the bottom of the steam tray. Add peas on top.
- Place steam tray in cooker. When cycle is complete, mix in peas, pea pods (if desired, if not--set aside for stock or other use) and green onions. Top with chopped peanuts.
