Butternut Coconut Rice

It was so nice to have almost a week off to relax and spend time with some Smith friends who accompanied me to the Cape for five days. What we were the most excited for, though? The food, of course! We were looking forward to a break from dining hall, mass-produced food. My mom made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, but understandably, she asked us to be in charge of Friday's dinner so she could relax. I was careful to not get any spices on my library copy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's vegan cookbook, Appetite for Reduction, and I decided on Butternut Coconut Rice as one of our entrées. Now, the focus of the book is vegan recipes that are below 400 calories a serving, and each recipe lists the nutritional stats of each. While that can be triggering for people like me in recovery from an eating disorder, I was able to look beyond that information and pick a recipe that just sounded delicious.

And it was! This was the first time I really felt in charge in the kitchen. I made sure to read the directions and not just the ingredients to make sure the recipe was doable and feasible.

Because I don't have the book on me, I'm borrowing The Veg Way's adaptation of it (it's basically the same), and my notes added are marked with an asterisk.

• 1 c brown basmati rice
• 2 c water
• pinch of salt
• 2 lbs butternut squash (*I had some already cooked butternut squash from Thanksgiving-recycle!)
• 2 tsp sesame oil (*I used olive because we didn't have sesame)
• 1 c sliced shallot (*didn't have)
• 1 tbl minced fresh ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c light coconut milk
• 1/4-1/2 c veg broth (*We ran out of veggie broth so you can just use water if needed)
• 1 tbl freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions for Cooking:

1. Cook rice (add rice, water and pinch of salt) (*it usually takes about 45 minutes)
2. Preheat oven to 400, bake squash for about 45 minutes (*or use any leftovers!)
3. When squash is cool to handle, preheat a large skillet over med-high heat. Sauté shallot in the oil for about 7 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, lime zest, red pepper flakes and salt, saute for 2 minutes, turn heat to low
4. Scoop the flesh out of the squash into the pan, add the coconut milk. Use a potato masher (fork, what have you) and mash into a creamy consistency. Add rice and stir well. Add 1/4 c veg broth (or water) and mix well. You can add up to another 1/4 c of brother to get a creamier consistency if you want. Add lime juice, salt if needed and enjoy! (*Just keep adding as much rice as you want if you want it thicker. I also added a handful or two of canned chickpeas for more body. You can really do anything here)

Sure, the dish looked like baby food, but it was so good. When plant-based dishes are done right, even carnivores can dig them. The dish, with root vegetables and rice, felt very grounding and soothing after a long, hard semester.