One-pan veggie and protein stews

[mific]

I haven't had an efficient cooktop where a wok could be used for years and since Covid it's been worse as my glass cooktop broke and all I could get was a cheap plug-in element. It's slow and inefficient but it gets there eventually - only for slower cooking though, not stir-fries. So I often make an adapted 1-frypan meal that's hard to ruin.

Ingredients and Method
0.5 cup uncooked brown rice, fried for a few minutes in a little oil
1.5 cups water
salt to taste

Get that cooking (covered) on medium (or on full on my useless element) and when the rice is almost done after about 20-30 min (softer but still a little chewy) add 3-4 cups of chopped veggies in on top - just spread them over as they'll steam. May need to add a little more water and I add about 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, and black pepper. Other options to add here are minced garlic and a little chilli sauce. 

Use any veg you like - last night I threw in chopped courgette, carrot, onion, broccoli, yams. Use anything except veggies that are best eaten raw. 

Let that continue cooking and steaming (again, cover it) for another 20 minutes or so until the firmer veggies are soft enough to eat but still have texture. If you don't stir it the texture's better. You want the water to have all been absorbed and steamed off so it's a thick consistency, about to burn (one advantage of my weak element is it's hard to burn things!) If you're using easily cooked veggies then add them 10 min after the firmer veggies, if you prefer them not too stewed. I mostly don't finesse it to that degree as I figure I'm cooking it all down and not throwing away cooking liquid so I'll get all the available vitamins anyway. :) 

Finally, add protein and more flavour, stir, cook briefly then serve. I used a 90g can (0.5 cup) of flavoured tuna (lemon pepper flavour) yesterday but you could use plain canned tuna and add the extra flavouring yourself. Or add in a sliced chorizo sausage at the point when you add the veggies. Or chopped chicken, ham, etc, even frozen prawns. Another alternative would be pre-cooked beans. If your protein doesn't have a lot of flavour (like beans) you'd need to add more flavourings with them. e.g. 1 cube/tsp of concentrated stock, or maybe chilli sauce and 2 Tbsp of tomato paste. Fish sauce (0.5-1 tsp) is good with prawns. If the protein isn't cooked then add it earlier, like when you add the veggies or right at the start with the rice. Finally, one option is to make it with just rice and veggies, then dish a serve up in an ovenproof bowl, crack an egg or two on top and sprinkle with cheese, then put that under the grill. That works especially well if you've flavoured it with tomato and chilli. 

The low carb version omits the rice so you start by frying the veggies in some oil for 5 min then add water, then all the rest as above. Use less water otherwise it'll be soup, though. Just enough to steam and stew them, so about 0.5  to 1 cup. Also do this if using up cooked rice - in that case, add the rice at the end with the protein and flavourings. 

The quantities above in an approx. 26-28" pan make two meals, or one for a hungry person.