Zucchini Corn Black Bean Rice

Easy and simple Zucchini Corn Black Bean Rice bowl, seasoned with fragrant thyme and parsley, enriched with super healthy coconut oil. A very nutritious and healthy meal that you can serve as a side dish or as a vegetarian main course.

When I think of cooked rice, I have a picture of some delicious, colorful Asian meal in my head. But for many years, I’ve been interpreted cooked rice completely wrong. Cooked rice was always a “diet” food in my house, food for recovering from illness. A boring dish, a plain and simple side dish. It also reminds me of my sorrowful attempts of dieting, when I ate only a plain cooked rice with boiled eggs for a whole day, or for weeks. Soooo wrong! And so blah!

When I changed my lifestyle, when I started to cook more and explore different recipes, I changed my mind about this great ingredient. I found out that combined with various vegetables and spices, rice can really make an incredible meal.

Rice is food, not particularly nutritionally rich, but that doesn’t mean that it is not healthy and should be avoided. In fact, rice is an essential part of a healthy balanced diet. Rice is a grain, a carbohydrate full of starch and therefore has gained a reputation for “bad” food. However, starch is needed in our body as a source of energy but also as food for good bacteria in our guts. Rice is very low in fat, sodium and sugar, so you can, in fact, enjoy in your delicious bowl of rice without thinking about putting on extra pounds. There are several types of rice. For cooking, I mostly use parboiled rice. Because of the special processing, parboiled rice is a better source of fiber, calcium, potassium and vitamin B-6 than regular white rice while it has all cooking characteristics like white rice.

Whenever I prepare rice, I always try to enrich it with some vegetables and aromatic spices. That way I upgrade the whole meal to be more nutritious and off course interesting and delicious. Today I share with you one of such quick recipes. Zucchini corn black bean rice is everything but boring and plain simple. It’s very nutritious and healthy. Addition of fresh spices – thyme and parsley, makes this dish also soo tasty :)

For making this dish, I used parboiled rice which I washed first with cold water. Instead of salt, I used a vegetable cube. Also, I added a bit of coconut oil in cooking water. Coconut oil enriched rice with healthy fats but also gave a distinctive fragrance to a whole dish. Black beans and corn enriched rice with plant based proteins and fibers, so it becomes a very nutritious and filling. Sweet fresh grated zucchini is wonderfully paired with sweet corn and beans, while fresh thyme gave a whole dish a pleasant scent. Thus prepared rice is also a handy “trick” to include more fresh vegetables in your everyday diet. For example, my husband wouldn’t eat a fresh zucchini, not in a million years. But in a rice meal prepared like this, he eats it without resentment.

Zucchini corn black bean rice can be easily made in just 20 minutes. So it’s not just delicious, but simple meal. Serve zucchini corn black bean rice as a side dish with meat, or just with some fresh seasonal salad and there you have a great vegetarian dinner. But, what I love the most about rice meals like this are leftovers.

In the morning, you can make a power breakfast – serve zucchini corn black bean rice with the omelet for a great start of the day. Or pack zucchini corn black bean rice in a lunchbox and bring to the office for healthy wholesome lunch. Isn’t that just great or what? :D

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Zucchini Corn Black Bean Rice

Easy and simple Zucchini Black Bean Rice Bowl seasoned with fresh thyme and enriched with coconut oil is a very nutritious and healthy meal. Perfect side dish.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine International

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Natalie

Ingredients

• 1 cup parboiled rice
• 2 cups vegetable stock homemade or store-bought
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 cup black beans drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup sweet corn drained
• 1 medium zucchini shredded
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme fresh or dried
• lemon juice optional

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan add 2 cups of vegetable stock. Bring to boil. Add coconut oil and rice. Cook rice according to package instructions.

2. Remove from heat and stir in black beans, corn, zucchini, thyme, and parsley.
3. Fluff rice with a fork.
4. Serve immediately.
5. Sprinkle with fresh lemon juice (optional).

Adapted from Damn Delicious.

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