Totally Tomato Grains — a plant-based British recipe by BOSH!
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Totally Tomato Grains

This one is a proper weeknight hero. We keep coming back to Totally Tomato Grains because it's punchy, satisfying, and honestly feels a bit fancier than the effort involved. You've got sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, green olives and cavolo nero all coming together with garlic and basil in a way that just works. Every bite has something going on, whether it's the chew of the grains, the richness of the tomatoes or that slightly salty hit from the olives. Make this tonight and you'll see exactly what we mean.

Cook: 15 min
Serves 2

Before You Start

  • Large frying pan

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp oil from jar of sun-dried tomatoes
  • 6 sun-dried tomatoes
  • 10 large pitted green olives
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 10 cherry tomatoes
  • 3 tbsp plant-based sun-dried tomato pesto
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 3 cavolo nero leaves
  • 1 250g bag mixed pre-cooked grains
  • 8 fresh basil leaves
  • 2 tbsp mixed seeds
  • Big pinch sprouted seeds
  • 4 tbsp hummus

Method

1

Prepare the ingredients

  • Finely slice the sun dried tomatoes
  • Cut the olives into ⅓ cm thick slices
  • Peel and finely slice the garlic clove
  • Halve the tomatoes
  • Strip the cavolo nero leaves off the stems, discard the stems and finely slice the leaves
  • Finely slice the basil leaves
2

Cook the dish

  • Warm the oil in the pan over a medium heat
  • Add the sun-dried tomatoes and green olives to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes
  • Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes
  • Add the chopped cherry tomatoes and fry for 2 minutes
  • Add the tomato pesto and the water and stir to coat
  • Add the cavolo nero, fold to coat and cook down for 1 minute
  • Add the grains to the pan and fold to combine until completely warmed through
  • Sprinkle the basil over the grains and fold to combine
3

Time to serve

  • Spoon into bowls, garnish with mixed seeds and sprouted seeds, add a little hummus and tuck in

Tips & Variations

  • Use good olives: It genuinely makes a difference here. Grab olives from a deli counter or the deli section of the supermarket if you can. The jarred ones can taste a bit sharp and you want something with a bit more body.
  • Don't rush the garlic: Finely sliced garlic cooked over a medium heat gets lovely and sweet. Turn it up too high and it'll catch, and burnt garlic will ruin the whole thing. Low and slow wins this one.
  • Cavolo nero swap: If you can't find cavolo nero, kale works brilliantly. Just slice it nice and fine so it wilts down quickly and doesn't take over the whole dish.

Why This Works

The trick here is layering your tomato flavour. Starting with sun-dried tomatoes in the oil means you're building a deeply savoury base before anything else even hits the pan. Fresh tomatoes added later keep things bright and jammy, so you get that depth and that freshness in the same mouthful. That's what makes it sing.