Expiramental Rice

The original quest I was trying to pursue was to see if I could make a white sauce and cook rice in it. The larger issue here is emulsification. I made this recipe about a week ago and because I used so much water based liquid to cook the rice and temperatures near boiling, I lost the emulsifyication for a little while during the cooking process. However; once the absorption of water based liquid took over from the rice cooking the emulsifyication returned even at boiling water temperatures. So basically lesson learned… Don’t freak out. The dish was good but I thought it lacked a certain amount of flavor. I was going to repeat the recipe again adding more flavor, but I started wondering if it was possible to make a nut butter based gravy or sauce. This seemed expiramental, but also sounded like fun. On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 2 cups grape tomatoes
• 1 lb ham steak
• 1 3/4 cups rice
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 1/2 gallon skim milk

Instructions:

1. In a deep 12 inch frying pan heat peanut oil and peanut butter over medium heat.
2. After completely melting the peanut butter add flour and make like a roux.
3. After cooking 4 to 5 minutes add milk and flavored sauces slowly trying to avoid lumps.
4. Using a whisk make sure to remove the remaining lumps.
5. Reduce heat to medium low and add asparagus which has been broken into bite size chunks.
6. Add water to increase total volume to almost the limit of the frying pan.
7. Stir and wait for mixture to come to a simmer.
8. Add rice and allow rice to absorb the majority of the water. Note: Pans will vary in size. I added about 3 cups of water to reach the limit of my frying pan. You might need to adjust rice amount accordingly.
9. Allow mixture to cool off of heat. Mixture will thicken.
10. Cut ham and tomatoes into bite size pieces.
11. Fold into mixture in frying pan.
12. Serve and enjoy.