Sticky Sesame Roast Veg

This dish serves chunky roast veg on a bed of brown rice, coated in a thick sweet, sour and spicy sauce. The finishing touch is a fresh crunchy topping of chopped scallions (spring onions) and sesame seeds.

Servings

An adult meal for 2.

Timings

25 mins to make.

You Will Need

• 1 aubergine
• 1 courgette
• 1 red or yellow pepper
• 100g brown rice
• 2tbsp each of Worcester sauce, fish sauce, cider vinegar, honey and olive oil
• 1 tbsp oil for frying
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 red chilli
• 2 – 3cm piece of root ginger
• 500g carton of tomato passata
• 2 scallions, chopped
• sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method

1. Cut the aubergine, courgette and pepper into large chunks and roast on a metal dish in the oven for 25 mins at 180C.
2. While the veg is roasting, tip the brown rice into a saucepan of boiling water. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 25 mins.
3. Combine the Worcester sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, honey and oil in a screw top jar. Shake to mix.
4. Crush the garlic and put in a saucepan with some oil over a medium heat. Finely chop the chilli and ginger and add in. Let cook for a few mins, then pour in the sauce from the screw top jar. Add in the passata and give it a good stir. Leave to simmer – it will slowly reduce to give a thick, sticky sauce.
5. When the rice is cooked, drain it and spread out to form a bed on each of two plates. Place the roast veg on top, and then pour over the sauce. Top with pieces of chopped scallion and a sprinkling of sesame seeds (see photo).

Customise it!

Lots of scope here. My choice of veg reflects what’s in season in the shops at the moment, but you can swap in any other veg that roasts well, such as sweet potato, butternut squash or parsnip. For the sauce, keep the vinegar and honey, which give it a sweet and sour base, but wine vinegar will be fine. Soy sauce can replace the Worcester or fish sauce if that’s what you happen to have in the cupboard.

This week I’ve been to a party at my Bowling Club, where everyone nominated a track for a jukebox-style playlist. The tracks were then played on shuffle, while everyone ate and drank. It was a fun evening in good company, with some great choices of music. Here’s the track I nominated: The Clash with London Calling.