Portlandish Thanksgiving

Eric, Stephen, and I just had a very awesome Veggie thanksgiving. Check it out! Nom Nom Nom...

http://entirelyuntrue.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/thanky-fest/

Coconut Brown Rice with Sweet Potato (pan)Cakes

Yikes, I should buy a plate that's not so yellow/green. I can't think of a more uncomplimentary food color pairing...maybe brown or taupe would be worse.

I made this to fulfill my craving for both rice and sweet potatoes, and overall it was a pretty starchy meal - but that wasn't a bad thing. Maybe the sweet potato pancakes need some tweaking, but I kind of enjoyed their ambiguous texture. They were still mushy, but they had a nice pan-friend crust on the outside. Also, the portions are super small since I'm cooking for myself - but it's a enough for leftovers. Doubled the quantity is good for 3-4 people.

Coconut Brown Rice

1 cup short grain brown rice

8 oz can coconut milk

1/2 cup water

1 small onion

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into a couple pieces

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry powder

Sweet Potato (pan)Cakes

1 med. sweet potato

1/2 red onion, diced small

3 tbl flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry powder

Cook onion in a pot with some oil, once translucent add the ginger and curry. After a couple minutes, add the rice and liquid (coconut milk and water). The ratio I used was 1:1.5, rice to liquid. Cover and bring to a boil, stirring to make sure you don't crusties on the bottom. Once it boils, bring to a simmer and cover making sure you keep stirring every once in a while. This should take about 30 minutes.

While your rice is cooking, cook the sweet potato. I used the microwave for convenience sake - which only takes 4 minutes. Peel your potato, and mash it. Adding all the ingredient and fry those babies up in little cakes! Super easy - but you may find the batter a bit finicky and sticky. I think next time I'll actually try and make it like a pancake by adding more liquid. Also, I would love to try this out with chickpea flour. Mmmm...