Brown rice with roasted vegetables

Huff!
Puff!
Running.. then jogging..then walking and again running....She gasps for more air!

She was running in the tread mill as if there was no tomorrow. Speckles of sweat on her face looked like the dew drops rolling down a car's window and her cheeks blushed with redness. Then she enthusiastically hops on to the elliptical with the hope to burn her layers of fat in one day and talks to herself on cutting down fried foods, desserts, walk up and down the stairs at home, stay active and importantly nod the head from left to right to left again when a food is placed in the front.That's my alter ego and I am on a mission to lose weight.

The post pregnancy weight gain hasn't been high on the scale but I have gained a lot of pounds over the last two years. Thanks to the tons of food that entered my body. With that determination to bring my body fat down, I entered my home to cook brown rice. My mom was frying delicious masala vadais - (gram dhal patty in english) (click for the recipe here) for S and I was head strong not to even touch a single piece of that patty. As always S is there to tempt me but this time I created a delicious alternative to curb my vadai craving. I developed this recipe (not a great one to boast about) after my friend shared eating a bowl of brown rice with veggies cooked with Cajun spices.

This is a warm salad of oven-roasted veggies and Indian flavored brown rice. I cooked the brown rice with cumin seeds, garlic, chilly flakes which made it taste like pilaf and I used all the possible vegetable found in my refrigerator. The colorful veggies were made more appealing to the palate by the addition of thyme and rosemary. They were roasted to perfection and served over the steamy brown rice. They are so filling and packed with nutrition.

For those who are conscious about the extra flesh around your waist and for those who wants to eat whole grains and for those who is opting for a healthy living, here is the tasty solution. I have had a disliking for Brown rice, 5 grain hot cereal mix, Quinoa and Oats but once you learn the knack to cook it tastier, you can never get enough of them. Will share the delicious recipes of those in the future posts.

This is my entry for Siri and Sanjeeta's -"Brown rice for dinner" event.



Ingredients
1 cup brown rice
1tsp cumin seeds
5-6 garlic cloves - minced
1 tbs onions - chopped
2 tsp chilly flakes
Oil for tempering, about 2 tsp
Salt and pepper to taste

For the roasted vegetables:
10 brocolli florets
10 cauliflower florets
2 large red potatoes - quartered with the skin on
2 long carrots
1 large red onions - quartered
1 small bell peppers
1 small aubergine
2-3 garlic cloves - minced
1tbs olive oil
2 tsp thyme
2tsp rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Cook the rice as per the manufacturer's instruction. Heat the oil in a small cooking pan. Once they get heated up, throw in the cumin seeds, garlic, chilly flakes and onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Mix them with the rice and set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 475'F. Chop all the vegetable in the same size. Transfer them to a large roasting pan. Sprinkle the thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Toss them well with olive oil and garlic. Roast for 35-40 minutes in the oven (conventional mode), stirring every 10-15minutes and cook till the vegetables are browned.

Serve in a bowl with alternate layers of the brown rice and veggies.