Camargue red rice, basil tofu, zucchini, onion, shallot, garlic, and thyme
Would you fancy bites of Summer? Bring flavors from the South-East of France to your kitchen: Camargue with the red rice, Provence with the thyme.
Serves: 2
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 60 minutes (including 45 minutes unattended)
Although I fancy discovering foods from our wide world, I return home once in a while. I take pleasure in bringing what I learn from foreign cuisines, and experiment. Some experiences end up being a no-no (will I ever tell about my spaghetti sauté?), others are great, like the soba noodles, tofu and veggies cooked in a potée fashion I posted last week. The present recipe is different in that it uses very few ingredients, and flavors from two regions of the South of France which have special places in my heart: Provence and Camargue.
Close your eyes (oh wait… re-open them to read the rest of the text, imagine you’ve closed them). Smell the lavender. Feel the sun and the wind on your face. Hear distant cicadas. This is an accurate cliché of Provence — only one of the many sides of Provence. From Avignon to Nice, from Calanques to garrigue, this is a vast region featuring a rich history, varied landscapes, and even different climates. Among the miscellaneous herbs growing in Provence, this recipe uses thyme. And it’s a great segway to the second influence at play here, as the western part of Provence overlaps with Camargue.
Camargue is a small region in the South of France, a delta between two rivers. It has been a regional park since 1970, and it’s one of the most protected and natural places in Europe. Camargue is the home of the gardians (not to be confused with the Guardians of the Galaxy), bulls, horses, flamingos, and birds. It’s also known for its salt, and its red rice.
About Camargue red rice
Camargue red rice is a wild rice whose bran is naturally tainted in red. Since it’s a wild rice, it belongs to genus Zizania, while most of rice in the world (indica, japonica) belong to genus Oryza. Camargue red rice has strict requirements: it can only be organic, and come obviously from a geographically-limited area.
I like this rice because it has a texture which differs a lot from usual rice; for an unknown reason, chewing this rice recalls me (what I remember) of chewing minced meat. It’s said to feature a subtle chestnut flavor, however other ingredients in my recipes always take over it.
I recall having tasted a beer made of Camargue red rice, though it wasn’t up to my taste.
Ingredients
200 g firm basil tofu1
130 g Camarguese red rice
Half a zucchini
2 yellow onions
2 shallots
2 garlic cloves
Sprigs of dried thyme
Camargue salt (if you can find it; use regular sea salt otherwise)
Olive oil
If you like it spicy, you can add a tea spoon of Espelette pepper. Despite I love spicy food, the taste without chili pepper is just right, and I enjoyed this dish as is.
Preparation
The preparation steps are straight-forward, and you can consider starting with the Cooking instructions once you’re done with the very first step below.
Cut the basil tofu into small cubes
Peel the onions, shallots, and garlic cloves then chop them into small pieces
Peel the half zucchini, slice it (approx. 0.5 mm wide), then cut slices into quarters
Heat 320 mL of water (this represents twice the volume of the rice)
Cooking
This recipe requires a number of small operations, until the rice is added to cook for 45 minutes. As usual, it’s more comfortable if you can proceed with all Preparation steps before you start cooking. However, if you’re trying to maximize your overall time spent, you can start cooking once the tofu basil is diced. I recommend using a non-stick deep-sided pan, or wok, because it makes it easier to grill the tofu cubes with little oil. However, since this dish doesn’t cook on high flame, any cookware with a lid you can close will work.
Heat a non-stick deep pan on medium flame/power, then add olive oil
Add the small cubes of tofu basil
Stir occasionally; cook until they change color, and start being grilled
Remove from the deep pan, reserve for later
Add the chopped onions, shallots and garlic cloves; add a dash of olive oil, stir and cover
Leave to cook with the lid on for 7 minutes
Remove the lid, add the half zucchini, a dash of olive oil, and give a good stir
Cook for 5 minutes, stiring occasionally
Add the rice, mix it with the ingredients
Add the 320 mL of warm water you had prepared
Brush the sprigs of thyme over the dish to have a maximum of dried leaves falling; if you have some woody stems falling during the process, no worries (see related tip as the bottom), just remove them before serving
Add 2 tea spoons of salt, stir once
Cover, reduce the heat to low, and leave it for 45 minutes
Verify the rice has absorbed all the water; if not, remove the lid and finish cooking it on higher flame/power until all water is gone
Add the grilled tofu basil cubes and mix them into the dish
Remove any thyme woody stems which could have fallen into the dish at step 11
You can serve right away, and it will be a delight. You can also reserve for later, store in the fridge, and enjoy after micro-waving or re-heating in a pot. As usual, flavors will better mingle if the dish sits in your fridge for a day or two before you serve. Still, I prefer to serve it right after it was cooked, so each bite is either a support to Camargue, or one to Provence. This makes the dish even more enjoyable not knowing if you’ll bite into thyme and release its strong flavor in your mouth. You can freeze this dish, as both rice and tofu support the process well; it can be handy if you’ve cooked more than the two servings this recipe describes.
Bouan appetit en toutèi ! (“enjoy your meal” in provençal)
If you’ve tried the recipe, and would like to comment - whether you loved it, or hated it - please do so. I’m welcoming ideas, even if these are non-vegan recipes I’ll have the challenge to “veganize”.
Here’s a tip before you go
After you’ve detached the thyme leaves from their woody stems, don’t get rid of the latter. These stems are not as flavorful as the leaves, though you can parfume a small room, or enhance the flavor of white rice if added to the water during the cooking.
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Be cautious: tofu is made of soy, which is a known allergen