Mushroom and black rice 'chachouka'

Name: Mushroom and black rice 'chachouka' recipe
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 150g black or red rice, or any other kind of wholegrain rice, pre-soaked if time; 500g chestnut mushrooms (substitute button mushrooms), quartered; 1 onion, roughly chopped; 2 tbs olive or vegetable oil; 2 garlic cloves, chopped; 2 small preserved lemons, finely diced, or finely grated zest of 1 lemon; 250g spinach; 2 tbs crème fraîche; 4 eggs; A handful of almonds, roughly chopped

Rate now

Jump to recipe

by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Feb 15, 2021

"Bake or roast any tasty combination of veg then break in the eggs for the last 10 minutes of cooking, and you have a tasty, well-balanced supper," says Hugh. This is an edited extract from Eat Better Forever by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Bloomsbury, $45).

150g black or red rice, or any other kind of wholegrain rice, pre-soaked if time
500g chestnut mushrooms (substitute button mushrooms), quartered
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 tbs olive or vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 small preserved lemons, finely diced, or finely grated zest of 1 lemon
250g spinach
2 tbs crème fraîche
4 eggs
A handful of almonds, roughly chopped

Method

1.

Cook the rice in plenty of gently simmering, lightly salted water for 20–35 minutes (the time will vary depending on the particular type of rice). Drain well. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C.
2.

Place mushrooms and onion into a large roasting dish, trickle with 1 tbs oil and season with a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until mushrooms are well coloured and the onion is tender. Stir in the garlic, diced lemons or lemon zest and the spinach. Return to the oven for 5–10 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.
3.

Stir the cooked rice into the roasted veg. Dot over the creme fraiche and swirl it in a little. Make 4 shallow dips in the veg, to accommodate the eggs. Break the eggs into the dips. Pepper everything generously and scatter the chopped almonds over the veg, between the eggs. Return the dish to the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the egg whites are fully set but the yolks are still runny. Serve straight away.