Step by Step. Day by day. You don’t need to have all the answers to start.. you just need to be willing to take the first step.
In my ‘evolving’ career (as I love to call it 😀)from being a self-proclaimed culinary curator to increasing the bandwidth of my services to offering “traveller touchpoint services” for the volatile hospitality industry, its been an enthralling journey alright !
This industry has already taught me that you can rise up from anything. You can recreate yourself. Nothing is permanent. You are not stuck. You have choices. You can think new thoughts. You can learn something new. All that matters is that you decide and don’t lose faith!
And when i have a lot going on (on second thoughts, even if I am not doing anything particular 😀) the last thing I want, is to spend too much time in the kitchen. It just seems so unnecessary…so be armed with one dish meal recipes you can whip up in a jiffy ! This recipe is an adaptation of what my mum made for us growing up and I made it as comfort food for myself, I certainly wasn’t expecting the kids or husband to wolf it down too 🤦🏽♀️!
Happy baking …♥️
Ingredients :
Brown rice – 1 cup uncooked
Tinned tuna in oil – 1 tin (185g)
Beaten Egg – 1
Red / Yellow / Green peppers – 1 tbsp each
Light Soya Sauce – 1 tbsp
For Creamy Cheese Sauce:
Butter – 1 tbsp
Minced Garlic – 1 tbsp
All purpose flour – 1 tbsp
Milk – 1 cup
Cheese (any cheese) grated – 1 cup
Add seasoning to taste.
Method :
1. Cook rice as per package instructions. I tend to fry the rice in a little butter before adding salted hot water before cooking. Cool the cooked rice.
For the Creamy Cheese Sauce :
1. In a skillet on a low to medium flame, melt butter (without browning it), add minced garlic and sauté , add flour and mix well. Add milk and stir using a balloon whisk. Let it thicken slightly. Add cheese. Switch off flame. Keep stirring until cheese blends in. Add more milk if required, to adjust the consistency. (Remember, you need a thick pouring sauce.)
Preheat oven to 175 C.
Assembling the dish :
In a 10 inch baking dish, add rice, drizzle soya sauce, drizzle beaten egg, drizzle reserved tuna oil from the tin, add bell peppers. Stir gently. Check for seasoning and incorporate accordingly. (I didn’t need to add any extra seasoning.) 
Top the rice with flaked tuna. Do not stir. Add thick creamy cheese sauce. Bake for 30 mins until edges start browning.
Serve warm.
Add a pinch of love ♥️:
My mother used to serve it with a crunchy crumbed cauliflower coated with a sweet and sour homemade sauce. Delish. 😋
For vegetarians you can substitute the tuna with sautéed mushroom. For non vegetarians you can add crunchy minced bacon bits. But I wouldn’t change a thing, it’s really comforting soul food on its own.
xoxo,
Sareeka ♥️
Sake The Bake 