I made this wonderful mushroom rice as dinner for my family. this serves 3 people, so adjust the quantities for how many people you are cooking for. Could serve more as a side dish to another meal.

It happens to be vegan, even though I'm not, so it's fully enjoyable for vegans and meat eaters.

It's special because the mushrooms are cooked twice to enhance the flavour.

Supplies

200g Mushrooms (7 ounces)

200g basmati rice ( 7 ounces)

1 small onion

1 spring onion (scallion/green onion)

Spinach

1 vegetable stock cube

salt

garlic powder

Vegetable oil

Turmeric

Non stick frying pan

Steel Sauce pan

Step 1: Chop and Dry-fry Mushrooms

Peel your mushrooms, and chop them into quarters or eighths. the shape or size is not actually important, it depends on your preference. I prefer them quite big so I quarter them, (remember, they will shrink in the process of cooking)

Save around a handful of the chopped mushroom pieces in a bowl, and put the rest of them in a non-stick pan on a low-medium heat. Don't put any oil or water in at this stage. You will start to see steam coming off the mushrooms, and hear a sizzling sound.

(This stage is important because drawing the moisture out of the mushrooms really enhances the flavour.)

Once the mushrooms are cooked (they will appear more dark and shinier, see photos) pour the contents of the frying pan into a separate bowl. (including any liquid)

Step 2: Cook the Rice

rinse 200g rice a few times by sieving it and putting it under the tap.

Add it to the steel saucepan. Add enough water to double the height of the contents. (e.g, if the rice is 1cm tall in the pan, the water+rice should be a total of 2cm tall in the pan.)

put the rice on the stove on high heat. and add the vegetable stock cube, half a teaspoon of salt, a heaped teaspoon of garlic powder, and one teaspoon of turmeric.

Bring to a boil.

Add the handful of uncooked mushrooms you saved from earlier into the pan and stir.

Leave the rice on high heat until all the water has disappeared, then, turn the stove down to the lowest heat, and cover up with the lid.

Leave this for 10 minutes and then turn off the heat. the rice will be fully cooked.

Step 3: Re-cook the Mushrooms

Finely chop a small onion, or half of a medium onion.

Fry add 2-3 spoons of vegetable oil of your choice to the frying pan, fry on a medium heat.

After about 5-7 minutes or when the onions have softened, add the mushrooms back in. you'll see some black liquid in the bowl, this is water from the mushrooms, add this back in too.

wash some spinach, however much you want and add this to the pan. this will shrink by a lot.

Add a small pinch of salt and a small pinch of garlic powder

This step is complete when the spinach has shrunk.