Looking for a delicious Meatless-Monday meal?  I’ve found it! One of my closest friends (and if I’m being honest, more like my therapist), Maggie sent this, Host the Toast recipe to me a year ago and we’ve been making it ever since. My whole family LOVES this recipe and it is a great way to sneak in some extra vegetables, especially if you’re trying to cut back on meat.  The recipe below has been modified from the Host the Tost original recipe to keep it lower in glutamate. I subbed lime juice for the vinegar, used clean coconut milk, reduced the amount of rice, and increased the vegetables.  While I haven’t done it myself, I’m sure you could easily switch the peanut butter for almond butter and possibly switch the rice to cauli-rice.  This recipe is also a great meal to make for a friend in need, girls night or when you’re hosting a casual dinner.

Ingredients

For the Coconut Rice:

1 c.            White Jasmine Rice (dry) (we use this one)

1 c.            Coconut Milk (clean and unsweetened) (we use this one, or this one)

1 c.            Water

1 tbsp.      Coconut Oil

1 clove     Garlic (minced)

1 tsp.        Himalayan or Sea Salt

For the Salad:

2                Red Bell Peppers (finely chopped)

3 cups       Red Cabbage (shredded)

1 1/2 cup  Carrots (shredded)

1                 Small Red Onion (finely diced)

1 cup          Cilantro (chopped)

1/2 cup      Green Onions (thinly sliced)

1 cup          Raw Cashews (chopped)

For the Peanut Sauce:

1/3 cup       Peanut Butter

2 tbsp         Honey

3 tsp           Ginger (freshly grated)

1 tbsp         Fresh Lime Juice

2 tsp.          Sesame Oil

Water to thin

Lime wedges for garnish

 

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, stir together rice, coconut milk, water, coconut oil, salt, and garlic. Place the uncovered saucepan on the stovetop on medium-high heat until it reaches a rolling boil. Cover saucepan and drop heat to a low simmer for 15 minutes. Remove saucepan/rice from heat and let sit covered until ready to combine with other ingredients.  While rice is cooking, chop, shred, and dice salad ingredients and set aside in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, combine peanut sauce ingredients and stir well.  You will want to add just enough water for the sauce to be thin enough, allowing it to be drizzled as a dressing. Using a fork, fluff rice and gently pour rice over chopped salad mixture, toss until well combined.  We opt to pour the peanut sauce over our individual plated meals, to avoid soggy leftovers.

Tidbits

If you do decide to try using cauliflower rice instead of jasmine rice, you would probably want to increase the amount to two cups of cauliflower rice and heat the rice in 1/2 a cup of coconut milk, garlic, salt, and coconut oil until the liquid has been absorbed.  Again, I have not tried this as of yet, but I would imagine it would need quite a bit of tweaking from the original recipe.  Due to the germ removal process, white rice carries slightly higher glutamate risk than brown rice. Brown rice could also be used if you would like to further reduce your glutamate risk, but cook time will need to be adjusted.