We went camping by the lake for the long weekend. I’m falling more and more in love with camping trips and getting sad that there’s not much time left in summer to go on more. Sure you get a not so great nights sleep and wake up with a sore back in the morning. But there’s no hotel that quite beats waking up outdoors with sunshine coming through the forest and being able to jump straight into a lake for the ultimate wake up call. We are now planning our how to retire and wake up by the lake every morning, but maybe in a cabin instead of a tent with an airmattress that likes to slowly deflate overnight. Of course the weekend went by far too fast. Somehow we ended up spending most of the weekend making pancakes and burgers with the occasional swim in the lake. But food is what camping is all about right!
We also did some experimenting with cool nighttime photography, which I definitely need some practice on and am currently watching all the youtube videos I can find. But it was pretty cool to sit on the beach at night and see all the photos of the milky way come out.
So while I still pretend summer is never going to end, I wanted to share one of my favourite summer recipes with you. It’s my lazier/easier version of Ottolenghi’s Mango and Coconut Rice. When I first tried making this I honestly thought it was going to turn out a bit weird. I love mango, it’s one of my absolute favourite fruit, but I really wasn’t sure the savoury mango thing was going to work. But the mango, red pepper, roasted peanut combo really work to balance each other out. Then you get all the flavour coming from the basil and coconut with that little bit of spice. It’s simply awesome! I’ve made it many, many times since and ended up simplifying it to make it a super quick last minute weeknight meal. But it’s also a pretty good one to impress others with too!
Mango and Coconut Rice
Serves 2
gluten free, dairy free, vegan
adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
1 cup brown/mixed rice
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 mango
1 red pepper
2 spring onions
1 red chilli
small handful roasted peanuts
handful of flaked coconut
handful of thai basil
Cook the rice as per package instructions but use coconut milk instead of water.
Chop the red pepper and mango into small chunks. Finely chop the spring onion and chilli. Lightly crush the peanuts and rougly chop the basil.
Add all the ingredients into a bowl, mix and serve.
