1. Melt margarine in a stockpot and saute onion until soft. Add carrots and celery, saute about a minute and then add potato, rice, and garlic, if desired) and stir to coat with margarine.
2. Add water and a pinch of salt, raise heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 20-30 minutes, with an occasional stir and adding water if the ingredients stop moving on the simmer.
3. Soup is done when rice is cooked through.
Variations: reducing the amount of water, or not adding any during simmering, makes this less soup-like and more risotto-ish.
since I live in Korea where celery is either non-existent or expensive, I have started using other crunchy and non-crunchy greens such as spinach, turnip greens,green peppers, and bok choy (soft greens make it look more asian).
I have replaced any of the vegetables at various times with zucchini, mushrooms, peas-- play with it, have fun... the only constant is the rice.
Serve with a nice, crusty Italian vegan bread.
The above proportions are basic and feed me quite well-I get about 3 bowls of soup out of it. This is easily multiplied by adding more water and increasing the amounts of vegetables and margarine proportionally (this is soul food, not low-fat, so don't knock the margarine).
Source of recipe: This recipe was handed down to me by my mother and grandmother and countless generations past...in the days before Vatican II, Catholics went meatless (read: fish) on every Friday, not just during Lent. In the Tyrolean mountains where my grandma was born, however, fish wasn't cheap. Rice was, and this is what my great-grandma made every Friday until she went to the rest home.