Dirty Rice and it's Done Dirt Cheap Revisited:Vegan $5 Challenge

In a previous blog, I visited the culinary heaven of Creole cooking and found Dirty Rice was a ripper as an inexpensive meal.

http://frugallivingmadeasy.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/dirty-rice-and-its-done-dirt-cheap-5.html

I wanted to revisit the recipe to provide a meat free alternative. There are several reasons to do this;

• There is a world that exists beyond meat. The eating habits of Western society are extremely meat centric. To live without meat takes a change in mind set and I wanted a new culinary challenge to face.
• Supermarkets, in fact shops generally, are many miles from where I live. Coping with doing without sometimes is a necessity. Being able to cope is a liberating and positive feeling.
• Cheap meat of any quality is generally hard to find. To remove meat from the menu even for a night or two each week is a good prospect for the frugal minded.
• I write another blog prompted by a health scare. To cut a long story short, to see if going without meat for a period of time makes any difference to my blood profile is a direct experiment and one I can write about!    http://shaunashcroftangioblues.blogspot.com.au/

Vegan Dirty Rice.

Makes enough to serve six and prices are in Australian dollars and are current as of April, 2015.

The browning of the rice comes from the mushrooms and stock.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white rice, 450gms at $3.95/kg  equates to $2.00
• 150 grams (6) mushrooms @6.99/kg      equates to $1.00. Mushrooms were on special. Frugality means taking advantage of specials! At the normal buy price of $9.99/kg, price would have been $1.40
• 1 stalk of celery                                                      $0.10
• 1 onion                             $0.99/kg                         $0.20
• ½ a green capsicum         $3.98/kg                          $0.75
• 4 cloves of garlic              $6.99/kg                        $0.30
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• Large teaspoon of thyme.
• Squirt of tomato sauce or chutney or tomato paste or tomato itself.
• Tsp black pepper
• 4 cups homemade vegetable stock. The next blog will cover making this vegetable stock and chicken stock the frugal way!

Total basic cost $4.50 or thereabouts.

How to make dirty rice:

• Prepare your ingredients first. It takes all the stress and strain out of preparing this dish and any stir fry for that matter.
• Either put the mushrooms and celery into a food processor and make a coarse mix or chop very finely using your manual dexterity.
• Chop the onion finely.
• Chop the  capsicum reasonably small but large enough that you know what it is when you come across it in the dish later!
• Chop the garlic.

You are ready to go.

• In a good sized pan heat some oil. Add the onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Takes about two minutes.
• Brown mushroom and celery mix. Don’t burn it.   This takes about three minutes.
• Add the capsicum and garlic and any seasoning and cook stirring for another three minutes or so then add the rice. Stir to coat the rice well with the contents then add the stock.
• Bring to the boil then very slowly simmer for twenty minutes with the lid on. Stir to ensure heat is not making it stick to the bottom of the pan( turn pan down if this happens) but stir as little as possible and infrequently as possible. i.e leave it alone!Turn off the heat, lift the lid and fluff it all up with a fork.
• Put the lid back on and leave for ten minutes