Tofu stir-fry with Amira pure basmati rice

I received a free 500g packet of Amira pure basmati rice to review.

Amira is the newest speciality rice brand on the supermarket shelf and is the choice of Michelin Star chefs.

I learnt something new from the fact sheet that I didn’t know which is that basmati rice has to be aged. Apparently the industry standard is to age basmati rice for 9 months, but Amira flagship products are aged for a minimum of 18 months, giving them a distinctive scent and delicious flavour.

I was also sent a selection of recipes, but I decided to do my own thing and cook a stir-fry. Unfortunately I couldn’t read the cooking instructions on the packet for the rice as the reseal label wouldn’t peel off properly, leaving a layer of label obscuring some of the instructions, so I cooked it the way I usually cook long grain rice. This may not have been the optimum cooking method, but it certainly gave tasty results.

The recipe ideas all looked really tasty. You may see them online here.

tofu & rice stir-fry

Tofu & Rice Stir-fry

Ingredients (serves 2 adults and 2 children)

220g Amira pure basmati rice (60g per adult and 50g per child)
200g smoked tofu
100g carrots
75g chinese leaf
50g shallots
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Tear the chinese leaf into pieces.
Peel and chop the carrots into thin batons.
Peel and push garlic through garlic press.
Peel and finely chop shallots.
Drain tofu and use kitchen roll to absorb surplus moisture.
Chop tofu into small pieces.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil.
Add rice.
Cook until soft and drain.
Meanwhile add the olive oil to a wok and heat.
Add the garlic.
After 1 minute, add shallots.
After 1 minute more, add carrots.
After 1-2 minutes more, add tofu.
After a few minutes, add chinese leaf and oyster sauce.
After 1-2 minutes more, add rice.
Mix well and cook for a few minutes.
Serve and enjoy.

 

I thought this was a really tasty meal. It was the first time that the boys had eaten tofu and they weren’t convinced, but they did love the rice, especially son1. The grains didn’t stick together which sometimes happens with other rice.

Amira rice is sold in 1kg bags in Morrisons and in 4kg and 8kg bags in Tesco. And is due to launch in another major supermarket this month. According to My Supermarket, when I started writing this post, it was on special offer at Morrisons, reduced from £4.29 to £2.14 for both pure basmati rice and superior aromatic rice, but it is now back to £4.29.

In summary I could definitely taste that this rice was better than most other rice. I shall be looking out to buy it in the future. I’m planning to use the rest of the packet for a fish curry, so watch out for another blog post soon.

Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.