Rice Soufflé with Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce

Rice is one of my favorite foods. True, no kidding! It is simple to cook, it can be cooked in a variety of ways and despite its rather plain taste, has a nice texture and goes well with pretty much all kinds of food.

I must confess I don’t know the origin of this recipe, when I was a kid my grandmother used to cook it very often and I learned from her. This Soufflé is very light in calories, delicious and can be served as a side dish (or “contorno”, as they call it here in Italy), or can be topped with all kinds of sauces or garnished with roasted vegetables. You name it.

The Soufflé

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• About 50ml of olive oil
• 2 cups of uncooked rice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Two eggs
• Salt
• Bread crumbs

Directions

Cook the rice in salty water and then let it reach room temperature before you proceed. You can also use leftover rice, if you have it already.

Chop the onion very finely with the food processor. Put the olive oil to heat in pan on a low flame and lightly fry the minced garlic and the onion. Whey they start to become golden in color turn off the flame and add the rice. Mix it well and add the eggs and mix again adding the flour.

Grease an oven tray with a thin layer of oil and cover it with a thin layer of bread crumbs. Add the Soufflé mix and cover with a thin layer of bread crumbs.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at about 180°C (356°F) until it’s golden in color.

The sauce

You are free to use any sauce you like but in my opinion a red sauce would probably go better than a Bechamel. You can also have it plain, with no sauce at all, which I love.

This time, I wanted to do a vegetarian Bolognese sauce. This is the recipe for the one in the picture.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups of TSP/TVP (Textured Soy Protein)
• Soy Sauce
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Water
• Plain tomato sauce

Directions

I usually like to add vinegar and and soy sauce instead of using plain water to rehydrate TSP. Put the TSP in a small pan with a little vinegar, soy sauce and some drops of water and put it on a low flame for about a minute. Add water as needed so the TSP rehydrates but doesn’t soak.

After the TSP is ready, add the tomato sauce and keep mixing on low flame until hot. Serve on top of individual servings.

Now, a confession. I always make more than I’m going to eat because I have a craving for eating this Soufflé plain and at room temperature hours later. A must try!