Sun-Dried Tomato Mint Rice Pilaf

You'd think sun-dried tomato and mint is a weird combo. You'd be wrong.

When I read Mark Bittman's Food Matters, I was somewhat shocked to discover that white rice wasn't very good for you. This was perhaps a dumb assumption, but rice was in the "grains" part of the food pyramid, so I always assumed that meant it was healthy.

Wrong.

So I've been trying to incorporate brown rice into my diet more. Except plain brown rice is boring. The other day I didn't have time to make pilaf, so I googled a couple ingredients I had in the cupboard to see if I could find anything half-decent to add to rice to make a side dish. I found this vegetarian site that had suggestions for how to make a quick rice pilaf. Now I wouldn't normally assume that sun-dried tomato and mint go together, but they are actually a pretty amazing combination. Both savory and refreshing. Add a little bit of feta and it's really great.

Adapted from Simple Vegetarian Recipes

Eat Rating: Awesome.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. Requires a food processor or blender.

1 cup brown rice
2 cups broth or water (LN: I used chicken broth, but you could use veggie broth or water)
1 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, choppped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup sundried tomatos, reconstituted
2 gloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1/4-1/3 feta cheese, crumbled

Place rice and broth/water in pressure cooker. Bring to boil and cook for 25-30 minutes. (If you don't have a pressure cooker, bring to a boil in a saucepan and cook for 45-50 minutes.)

While rice is cooking, place parsley, mint, sun-dried tomatos and garlic in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Gradually add oil, scrapping down sides of processor. The ingredients should form a thick paste.

Once rice is cooked, add the mint-tomato paste and stir to combine. Let cool, then add feta cheese crumbles. Serve warm.