Spicy rice two ways

As you will already have noticed I love a dish that allows me to change it into different meals with the leftovers. This is one of my easiest to change yet. Not only did it make my flatmate and I a very nice dinner last night but I've transformed it into a great breakfast/brunch recipe for myself today! It also works well to take in a lunchbox and could be transformed into a salad once cold with the addition of some avocado (as with brunch), lettuce and fresh tomatoes.

Spicy rice

Ingredients:

1 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 large red pepper, sliced into strips
Handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
Beef mince
Passata - most of the jar
Mix of Bomba and Umami paste or plain tomato puree
Tin of chickpeas
2 tsps dried oregano
2 tsps of dried thyme or za'atar spice mix
1 heaped tsp hot smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
Coconut oil
250g Basmati rice
200ml stock or water

Topping options:

Goat's cheese or cream cheese
Avocado
Fried or poached egg
Tabasco

Method:

Heat a dessert spoonful of coconut oil in a large non-stick pan.
Add onions and fry until softened slightly.
Add peppers and garlic as well as the beef. You want to beef to form small chunks almost like mini meatballs - this can be achieved either by ripping up mini burger patties or pinching sections of mince and squashing slightly before adding to the pan.
As these are browning you can add the mushrooms and stir through.
As this is frying add your herbs and spices as well as the puree.
Once all the beef is fried off (this should take minutes as they are small sections and just need to brown) then add the passata and chickpeas. Rinse out the passata jar with water and add this to the pan as well.
Cover and allow to cook together for 15-20 minutes.
While this is cooking down partly cook your rice according to packet instructions, you want to drain it just before it's cooked while still a bit hard when tasted.
Add the partly cooked rice to the dish, you may also need to add a little extra water or stock depending on how much the dish has reduced.
Cover and allow to cook for a few more minutes until the rice is cooked and the liquid has been absorbed. Season to taste.
You now have a few options to top off the dish, for dinner we topped it with goat's cheese then I recreated it as a breakfast this morning with avocado, fried egg and tabasco - both were delicious!