A quick and easy stew, whipped up with staple ingredients and left-over rice. Just add pork or beef tips to the stew and you have a full meal in minutes!
[Prep: 5min / Cook: 25-30min]
– 2 packets instant tomato soup powder or 1 can of condensed tomato soup
– 2 cups (500mL) water
– 2-4 medium-sized carrots
– 1 onion
– 2 bowls/servings cooked white rice
– a dash each of garlic powder & pepper
- Combine the soup, water and seasonings in a pot over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Add the vegetables and lower the heat. Let simmer until the carrots are tender and the onions turn clear (about 20 – 30 min)
- Add the rice and stir for about a minute. If the rice is cold (ie: out of the fridge), let it heat up in the stew for about 5 minutes.
[Serves 2]
Notes- This is intended to be a rice dish rather than a soup, so the final ratio of liquid to rice should be favoring the rice. If not, you can always add more rice.
- This is also intended to be a side dish (carb + veg). I originally made it to go with some leftover meat.
- This is a good recipe for using leftover rice. To save time during the week, I usually cook twice as much rice as needed for a meal and put half in the fridge for use later on in the week.
- Corn, celery, tomatoes or potatoes would make great additions to this stew.
- For a more “professional” dish, substitute tomato paste, two tomatoes (cut into wedges) and seasonings like oregano & basil or an Italian mix for the instant soup.
- How to make 2 meals in one:
- Brown about 1/2-3/4 lbs (.25-.35 kg) stewing beef or pork chops in a pan. Bring the soup and seasonings to a boil and add the meat. Turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour.
- I found that this left the soup very oily as fat cooked out of the meat. For the sake of being healthy, I served the meat separately on Day1 and put the remaining soup in the refrigerator overnight. This sort of meat goes well with mashed or boiled potatoes.
- On Day2, I skimmed the separated fat/oil off the top of the soup and reheated it on the stove, following the recipe above. Thus, main course Day1, side dish Day2!