The forty-day Advent fast is approaching, which will last from November 28 to January 6. I will offer you a completely simple recipe – rice with tomatoes and zucchini, which, in my opinion, can also be served on a festive Lenten table.
I suppose even those who do not observe fasts, but want, for example, to lose weight, are a vegetarian or try to lead a healthy lifestyle, will like it.
How to cook a lean dish – rice with tomatoes and zucchini

Ingredients:

Zucchini – 300 grams
Rice – 80 grams
Tomato – 300 grams
Onion – 100 grams
Garlic – 2 cloves
Broth – 250 grams (vegetable)
Spinach – 20 grams
Lemon juice – 2 teaspoons
Tomatoes in their own juice – 3 pieces
Salt – to taste
Basil – 1 small handful of leaves
Black pepper – to taste
Lemon zest – 1/3 lemon
Vegetable oil – for frying
Spices – 1 teaspoon (Provence herbs)
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon

Spinach can be taken frozen or fresh. The broth can be completely replaced with plain water. Don’t let the sheer amount of ingredients scare you. If you think about it, it’s lightly sautéed vegetables with rice cooked simply and deliciously and a sauce for spiciness and more juiciness – nothing special, and, at the same time, tasty, pretty and absolutely lean dish.

Cooking:

To begin with, peel the onion, cut it into a medium-sized cube and lightly fry it in a pan until transparent, in a small amount of vegetable or olive oil.
Rinse rice. Mince the garlic. Add rice and garlic to our onion, mix and fry a little more. Why is rice fried? They say that this is a guarantee that the rice will turn out crumbly. And yes, indeed, that is exactly what happens. Roasting time is literally 30 seconds.
Then pour in the broth or water, salt and pepper to your liking, add a teaspoon of lemon juice, close the lid and simmer our rice until fully cooked, about 10 minutes. If after this time the rice is still not the softest, and there is not enough liquid, add and cook until ready.
Next add lemon juice, spinach, salt and pepper. About spinach: I have chopped, frozen in separate, small briquettes. Each weight is 20 grams. By and large, its amount approximately corresponds to 20 grams of fresh. If you have the latter – it should be crushed.
So, everything was mixed, tasted, adjusted if necessary, closed the lid, kept it on fire for another minute and that’s it, the rice is ready.
Now we will quickly make a fragrant sauce. Put the tomatoes in a blender. They can be fresh or in their own juice. I have the latest, medium size. Then there is one peeled clove of garlic, basil leaves, salt, a little pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil. Next, mix everything until smooth. Two minutes and the sauce is ready.
All ingredients for the sauce in a blender:
It’s time for the vegetables. We cut the zucchini in length into plates, about 0.5-0.7 centimeters wide. I just get 6 plates, for three servings. Salt, pepper, lightly sprinkle with Provencal herbs.
Below I will show the seasoning that I always use. If not, take a mixture of three dry herbs: basil, thyme and oregano. We do the same with zucchini with tomatoes (take a small size) – cut them into circles and sprinkle with seasonings, only make a little more thickness, about 0.7-1 centimeter.
Heat the frying pan, pour in a little vegetable oil and quickly fry the zucchini on both sides. We do not need sourdough, let it remain a little crispy.
Next are the tomatoes. Just like zucchini, fry quickly and on both sides.
I just had breakfast time and I personally made one serving for myself. Using her example, I will show how, what and after what. We take a plate of zucchini and put it on a plate, spread rice on top, then tomatoes, rice again.
We finish with the second plate of zucchini and pour the sauce on top. If you are making many servings at once, you can lay everything out, for example, on a baking sheet, just do not pour over the sauce. But I don’t recommend doing it much in advance – the rice will dry out and there will no longer be super juicy. Although … in advance is relative, nothing will happen for sure in a couple of hours. And just before serving, warm up a little in the oven, carefully arrange on plates, pour over the sauce, garnish with basil and serve.
And you can go the easier way. To do this, cut the tomatoes and zucchini into cubes and mix with rice. In this version of rice, it is better to take 100-120 grams, no less, and accordingly increase all the ingredients related to its preparation. And to serve it nicely, use the ring – tamp our vegetable rice there, carefully lift the ring, pour sauce on top, decorate with basil. Doesn’t it look pretty too? The choice is yours. Enjoy your meal!