Tasty Rice

The point of this recipe is the rice cooked in carrot soup that you get on the second day. (Please note that as a traditional family recipe this one lacks boring detail such as quantities, cooking methods, precise ingredients etc and doesn't necessarily list things in the order you have to do them. I do the pot roasting in the oven at Gas Mark 3 for 45 minutes per 500g. Disclaimer: I should make it clear that I am not recommending that you eat British beef just at the moment.)

Day One

Pot roast a joint of beef in a heavy saucepan or pressure cooker, adjusting the time as appropriate:

• Heat some oil in base of pan.

• Seal meat and remove.

• Partly fry selection of vegetables - basically carrots and onions, but you can put in chopped celery and/or garlic. (I use much more carrot than you might think sensible.)

• Place meat on top of bed of vegetables.

• Add hot liquid which you prepared while vegetables were browning - boiled water, beef stock cube, bay leaf, tomato purée, seasoning etc - about 500 ml?

• Bring to boil amd turn down to simmer, or bring up to pressure and reduce heat. (I put it in the oven at this point.)

• If you are using an ordinary saucepan you can add potatoes for the last 20 minutes before serving. No doubt you can do this for about 5 minutes at the end of pressure cooking but I haven't tried this - I do separate roast potatoes. (I usually boil potatoes separately. You can alternatively use couscous.)

• Serve some of the liquid with the vegetables as a sauce when dishing up the meal - note that the carrots should be in large chunks, not diced or sliced finely.

Day Two

• Serve rest of the beef cold.

• Cook long grain rice (I usually use brown rice) in left-over sauce. You may prefer to skim off any fat that has risen to the surface. You need the right amount of liquid altogether to be completely absorbed by the rice when it is cooked, so you may have to add some water to your sauce. If you think this might dilute it too much, put in some more purée. It is ready when the rice is cooked, according to the type of rice. (I find that you have to add more water than you think, and cook it for rather longer than the same rice takes when boiled in plain water.)

Thanks to Leila Ward. (My comments added in italics.)