Get ready to whip up a brain-boosting meal this exam season

Give this one-pot crispy veggie rice dish a go this exam season. If you're looking for a brain-boosting meal that will fuel you for hours then we've got you covered.

With exams and assessments coming up, there's no better time to make sure you're eating well. This delicious dish is a great time saver as it can be refrigerated and eaten the following day. Or if you're feeling generous, this dish will feed you and up to five flatmates.

It contain lots of healthy veggies that will leave you feeling re-fuelled and ready to tackle that essay.

Ingredients

- 2 brown onions

- 2 red peppers

- 8 garlic cloves

- 500g cherry tomatoes

- 2 courgettes

- 3 tsp paprika

- 1.7L vegetable stock

- 540g rice

- Half a pack of parsley

- Lemon

Instructions

1. Dice onions, red peppers, and courgettes, and halve the cherry tomatoes. Grate the garlic cloves. Finely chop your parsley.

2. In the biggest pot you’ve got, heat up some oil to medium-high heat and fry your diced onions for around 10 minutes, or until golden and soft.

3. Add the red peppers, courgettes, paprika, and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes until vegetables are soft and begin to brown.

4. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

5. Pour in the vegetable stock.

6. Add the rice and give it a little stir – don’t agitate it too much or the rice will become stodgy.

7. Cook on the highest heat for 10 minutes, stirring gently occasionally to prevent it burning to the base of the pot.

8. Reduce heat to medium, add a lid to the pot, and cook for 5 more minutes.

9. Reduce heat as low as it will go, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until you hear the rice begin to sizzle.

10. Remove from the heat and leave the pot to rest for 5 minutes with the lid on.

11. Meanwhile, zest your lemon. Mix in the parsley and the lemon zest and serve.

Top tips:

- If you don’t have a pot big enough for this, you can easily split it into two or three smaller pots, you’ll just have to do a little bit of maths to work out the quantities you need per pot!

- The timings can vary depending on the size of your pot and the power of your hob. If your rice is still looking a bit watery after step 8, remove the lid and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then replace the lid and continue to step 9.

You can find more budget friendly, easy exam fuel inspired recipes on our Food page here.