The salt concentration in the cooking liquid is not a minor detail in this vegetable platter, it is the key to flavour. We add the teaspoon of salt not to the vegetables but to the 800 g of stock in the mixing bowl. As the dish cooks, lightly salted steam rises up into the Varoma and seasons the broccoli, courgette and pepper from the inside, while at the same time the rice in the steamer basket cooks over the same steam. Three components, one mixing bowl, one single heat source.
We have been making this recipe for years whenever we want something colourful and meat-free but do not have much time in the evening. The total time is 50 minutes, and you end up with exactly two pieces to wash up: the mixing bowl and the Varoma. No frying pan, no separate rice pot, no sauce pan. Once you understand how the Thermomix® uses its tiers here, you will happily leave the classic three-pot approach behind.
Vegetable Platter with Rice and Herb Sauce, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 12 ✓
- 10 g ginger
- 2 onions
- 10 g rapeseed oil
- 800 g vegetable stock
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 potatoes
- 300 g long-grain rice
- 500 g mixed vegetables e.g. pepper, courgette, kohlrabi, broccoli, green beans
- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs
- 100 g double cream
- 100 g crème fraîche
- 2 tbsp mixed frozen herbs
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Peel the ginger, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 3 sec / speed 8. Scrape down with the spatula.
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2
Peel the onions, halve them, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 5 sec / speed 5. Scrape down with the spatula. Add the oil and steam for 5 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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3
Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut into pieces.
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4
Add the stock and salt. Add the potatoes to the mixing bowl, insert the steamer basket, weigh in the rice, rinse well under running water and reinsert the basket.
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5
Wash and trim the vegetables, cut into bite-sized pieces and place in the Varoma dish. Sprinkle with the Italian herbs. Fit and close the Varoma and cook for 25 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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6
Remove the Varoma, lift out the steamer basket, add the double cream, crème fraîche and herbs and blend, increasing speed gradually up to speed 6.
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7
Serve the vegetables with the rice and sauce.
Nutrition per serving
Why the tier technique works so well here
The logic is physical, not magical. The mixing bowl holds 800 g of vegetable stock with 1 tsp of salt and two floury potatoes, plus 300 g of rinsed long-grain rice in the steamer basket. The Varoma sits on top with 500 g of mixed vegetables. Once the stock comes to a simmer, fine steam rises through the steamer basket and passes through the vegetables in the Varoma. The rice swells in the steamer basket above the waterline, and the vegetables cook at just under 100°C without direct contact with water. That is exactly why the pepper keeps its colour and the broccoli stays firm to the bite.
The salt in the stock works in two ways. First, it stops the rice tasting bland because the cooking liquid reaches right into the grain. Second, the steam carries a small amount of dissolved flavour upwards. We also sprinkle the Varoma vegetables with the teaspoon of Italian herbs, but the base seasoning comes from below. If you scatter the salt over the vegetables at the top, you end up with flat-tasting water and over-seasoned vegetables. The other way round, the distribution takes care of itself.
Rice in the steamer basket, not in the water
This is where most mistakes happen. The long-grain rice must go into the steamer basket, not directly into the stock. In the basket it swells through the rising steam and the water that pushes up through the slots. If it were sitting in the mixing bowl, the rice would rest against the blade, break apart in the cream sauce later and block the blade. Rinsing under running water before weighing it in is essential, not optional. It washes off the loose surface starch that would otherwise cloud the stock and produce a gluey sauce after blending.
Long-grain rice naturally contains less starch than risotto rice or pudding rice. Swapping the rice changes the whole dish. Basmati works almost identically. Risotto rice tips the sauce towards a pudding consistency. With brown rice the cooking time needs to go up to 35 to 40 minutes, and the vegetables should go in the Varoma later, otherwise they fall apart. We stick with long-grain and keep to 25 minutes.
Choosing vegetables that stay firm
The 500 g of mixed vegetables are a recommendation with room to adapt. What works well: broccoli florets, carrots cut into 1 cm rounds, courgette in half-moon slices, pepper in strips, kohlrabi in batons, whole green beans, cauliflower florets. What does not work: tomatoes (they collapse immediately and drip into the steamer basket), spinach (it wilts to a third of its volume), aubergine (it soaks up liquid and turns spongy), mushrooms (they release too much water and dilute the stock from above).
The size of the cut matters. We cut harder vegetables like carrots or kohlrabi smaller and thinner, and courgette and pepper into larger pieces. If you want everything to be ready at the same time in bite-sized pieces, the firmer varieties need to be cut thinner. Broccoli florets go into the Varoma whole because they cook from the outside in. A common beginner mistake is to cut broccoli into tiny pieces. After 25 minutes they will be soft and grey. Thumb-sized florets hold their shape and keep their colour.
The sauce from the cooking liquid
This is the part most recipes overlook. After 25 minutes of steam cooking, the mixing bowl contains a concentrated stock in which the potatoes are fully cooked through. The two potatoes provide the binding and act as a thickener for the sauce, not as a filler side. We remove the steamer basket and Varoma, leave the potatoes in the mixing bowl, add 100 g of double cream, 100 g of crème fraîche and 2 tbsp of frozen herbs, then blend, increasing speed gradually up to speed 6.
Blending with gradually increasing speed is not optional. If you go straight to speed 6, you foam up the hot stock and force it out under the lid. We start at speed 3, hold for 5 seconds, move to speed 5 and then to speed 6. The result is a creamy, lightly green sauce that holds together thanks to the potato starch, not a roux or a large amount of cream. That is exactly why the ingredients list only calls for 100 g of double cream. You do not need more because the potatoes bind it.
What else goes well on the table
Goes well with: crusty wholemeal bread, baguette or escalopes.
When we make this platter for guests, we often alternate it with a second all-in-one dish across the week. Our favourite pairing: one evening this vegetable platter, the next our One-Pot Pasta with the Thermomix®, because the principle is similar and washing up takes no time at all. Anyone who wants to take the tier technique further will find the same logic in our Salmon Fillet with Dill Mustard Sauce, with fish in the Varoma. Other vegetarian options in this style are our Vegetable Soured Cream Pot and the Broccoli Pesto with Farfalle. For the method in general we have written a detailed guide to steam cooking with the Thermomix®.
Leftovers the next day
Leftovers keep well in the fridge for two days. We store the rice and vegetables separately from the sauce, because otherwise the sauce draws in water and the rice turns mushy. To reheat, put everything together in the mixing bowl with 50 g of water and warm for 4 minutes at 90°C on speed 1. We would not recommend freezing. The sauce separates on thawing, the vegetables lose their bite and the rice turns grainy. Better to plan for a second portion as lunch the next day than to bother making a freezer batch.
How other recipes approach this dish
Many versions on recipe sites use parboiled rice and a pale sauce made from soured cream and plain flour, seasoned with fried onions and stock powder rather than real herbs. The vegetables there are often a fixed mix of carrots, courgette, pepper, broccoli, kohlrabi and cauliflower, frequently bulked out with extra potatoes. We deliberately do things differently. We use Basmati for clean separate grains, and the sauce gets its flavour from fresh parsley, chives and dill with soured cream instead of a roux. That keeps the dish light, herb-forward and tasting of summer rather than a canteen.
Anyone who wants to go deeper into the tier technique will find everything they need in our guide to optimal steam cooking with the Thermomix® and in our overview of all-in-one recipes.
