Recipe | Soy Sausages with Sauteed Onions and Swiss Chard over Thai Coconut Rice

So yes, I actually measured everything out for this recipe (I know, it's quite shocking) so I could share it with whoever might be interested in trying it out. Here it goes!

This recipe yielded a comfortable 2 servings for my mom and I with some left over rice. You could easily double the recipe to feed more people or just incorporate some other side dishes with it.

So for the rice... it's the easiest thing ever. I made mine in a rice cooker but it's just as easy on the stove top. you'll need:
2 cups Basmati Rice
3 cups water or vegetable stock
1-2 tbsp of Coconut Thai Seasoning (depending on how spicy you want it... I used 2 tbsp and it had a little kick to it)
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

For reference, this is what the coconut thai seasoning that I used looks like. You could probably find something similar to it in the ethnic food section of your local supermarket.

If  you're cooking the rice in a rice cooker, it's quite simple. just combine the rice, water or veg stock, and the coconut thai blend in the cooker and turn it on. When it's finished cooking, fluff the rice with a fork and add however much salt and pepper you desire. Add the oil and mix everything together.

If you're cooking the rice on the stovetop, combine the rice, water or veg stock, and the coconut thai blend in a pot and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, put the heat down to simmer and cover the pot. Cook until all the liquids have been absorbed and the rice is tender (usually about 15-20 minutes)

While the rice is cooking, you can work on the soy sausages with sauteed onions and Swiss chard. For this portion of the recipe, you'll need:

1 onion, sliced
2 soy sausages, cut in half, and then cut in half again, length-wise (this should give you 8 pieces total)
5-8 stalks of Swiss chard (depending on how big they are), roughly chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once the pan is up to temperature, start browning the pieces of soy sausages. You can use any brand, but I recommend either Trader Joe's or the Smart brand of meatless sausages. They just taste the best in my opinion. For this recipe, I used Trader Joe's Italian Style Soy Sausages

Saute the sausages for about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

When you're done sauteing the sausages, remove them from the pan and add the onions. Saute the onions for about 5-7 minutes, or until they begin to get some color and soften up. It's important to hold off on salting them so they can caramelize a little bit and develop some nice color.

At this point you're ready to tackle the Swiss chard. If you've never worked with Swiss chard before, it's so painfully easy. All you do it pull the leafy green parts off of the white stalks and chop it up. If you think you've chopped up too much, YOU DIDN'T! Swiss chard is just like spinach and will reeeeeeally wilt down to almost nothing... so your 5-8 stalks of greens turn into about 1/2-1 cup soon after it hits the pan. I used enough to fill up a colander when I washed it (mainly because that's all that was left in the fridge)

Swiss chard doesn't take long to cook at all. Introduce the greens to the pan with the onions and stir around until the greens begin to wilt. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Once the greens begin wilting, add the turmeric, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.

Stir to incorporate all the seasonings, and then throw the sausages back into the pan and combine all the flavors together and finish wilting the Swiss chard.

Serve over the coconut thai seasoned rice or right along side of it and enjoy!

By the way, the green beans in the picture were simply steamed and seasoned with salt and pepper... really nothing special at all, but still delicious.